Hotwire Series: Creating Dynamic Onboarding Flows with Turbo and Morphing - Part 5

  • Date5/5/2025
  • Reading Time7 min
Hotwire Series: Creating Dynamic Onboarding Flows with Turbo and Morphing - Part 5

Introduction

  • The importance of smooth onboarding experiences
  • Traditional multi-page forms vs modern single-page experiences
  • How Turbo and morphing transform form interactions

Planning the Onboarding Architecture

  • Defining the steps and data requirements
  • State management considerations
  • Progressive disclosure design patterns

Building the Foundation with Turbo Frames

  • Creating the container frame structure
  • Step navigation implementation
  • Data persistence between steps

Form Implementation and Validation

  • Creating form partials for each step
  • Client-side validation with Stimulus
  • Server-side validation with graceful degradation

Implementing Loading States

  • Creating skeleton loading indicators
  • Using Turbo's progress bar for navigation
  • Custom loading animations for form submissions

State Management Between Steps

  • Session-based progress tracking
  • Partial data saves with ActiveRecord
  • Handling browser navigation and refresh

Progress Indicators

  • Building a step tracker UI component
  • Updating progress dynamically
  • Allowing step navigation when appropriate

Advanced Morphing Techniques

  • Understanding Turbo's morphing capabilities
  • Preserving state during page transitions
  • Custom morphing animations

Error Handling and Recovery

  • Displaying validation errors without losing context
  • Allowing users to save and return later
  • Handling timeout and session expiration

Testing Complex Onboarding Flows

  • Unit tests for individual form components
  • Integration tests for the complete flow
  • User experience testing strategies

Conclusion

  • Best practices for onboarding UX
  • Analytics and conversion optimization tips
  • Future enhancements to consider

Code Repository

  • Link to the example onboarding implementation
  • Documentation for customization

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