Create-react-app: Integrate Webpack Dashboard

[coffeedoughnuts]

Would it be possible to integrate Webpack Dashboard? Currently this is possible once you've ejected, but I think a lot of users would benefit from it who may not want to eject just to have this plugin.

https://github.com/FormidableLabs/webpack-dashboard

[alexzherdev]

Already discussed in #449

[gaearon]

Yea, let’s wait it out a little bit.
Is there anything particular you’re missing from it?

[coffeedoughnuts]

No, it just seemed like a really nice project - but you're right, maybe a little premature to integrate it. Thanks for the create-react-app project by the way; makes knocking up little experiments so easy, whereas before I just wouldn't bother. Cheers!

[kachkaev]

@gaearon what do you think of considering webpack-dashboard again, given that it's been around for one year?

[gaearon]

What information do you find valuable in particular?

[kachkaev]

I'm particularly interested in the module size breakdown, i.e some feedback that would make me more thoughtful when doing another npm install xyz / import. If I'm not wrong, the only time CRA brings file sizes to the developer's attention is after npm run build. Seeing that the gzipped main.js is already 1MB is useful, but there no extra info on what modules to blame.

Maybe adding webpack bundle analyzer (https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/pull/2359) can improve the feedback and thus make a positive impact on the obesity many modern web apps (including mine) suffer with.

[gaearon]

The problem is that the stats shown by Webpack dashboard are wrong. They are not representative of real file size distribution because they don't take dead code elimination and minification into account.

I think it's better to educate users about measuring their dependencies with sourcemap explorer that shows real numbers, than show wrong numbers immediately.

[gaearon]

Seeing that the gzipped main.js is already 1MB is useful, but there no extra info on what modules to blame.

Once it's over 512 kB we show a warning that includes a link to instructions on both bundle splitting and dependency analysis with sourcemap explorer. So I don't think it's accurate to say we don't help you learn about those tools.

[Sharlaan]

The problem is that the stats shown by Webpack dashboard are wrong. They are not representative of real file size distribution because they don't take dead code elimination and minification into account.

How about electron-webpack-dashboard ? Does it show more accurate size estimations ?

[gaearon]

Last time I checked its numbers were wrong too. They might have fixed it by now, but maybe not.

I still suggest using source-map-explorer for best results.