20260220174238-body-style-indentation-for-ui-component-functions.org

Body-style indentation for UI component functions

Context

UI component functions like page-center, page-title, text-muted, and card take an attrs map followed by child elements. When nested, function-call style indentation (aligning with first argument) wastes horizontal space.

;; Function-call style (wastes horizontal space)
(page-center {:class "foo"}
             [:h1 "Title"]
             [:p "Body"])

Options Considered

Function-call style (default)

Align subsequent arguments with the first argument. Standard for most function calls but creates deep nesting with wrapper components.

Body-style with 2-space indent

Treat the first argument as special (like a binding vector in let) and indent body forms 2 spaces from the opening paren. Used by defn, let, when, with-open, and similar forms.

Body-style with 1-space indent

Non-standard. No precedent in Clojure ecosystem.

Decision

Use body-style indentation with 2-space indent for UI component functions.

(page-center {:class "foo"}
  [:h1 "Title"]
  [:p "Body"])

This matches the Clojure community standard for body forms and is consistent with defn, let, when, with-open, and other macros. Configured via:

• .cljfmt.edn with :extra-indents using [[:block 1]]
• .dir-locals.el with define-clojure-indent using 1

Consequences

• Reduced horizontal nesting when composing UI components
• Consistent with standard Clojure indentation conventions
• Requires configuration in both cljfmt and Emacs for full tooling support
• New UI component functions need to be added to both configuration files