# TDX Redesign Feasibility Memo # Memo: Feasibility Check — Support Portal UI/UX Redesign Proposal **To:** [Boss's name] **From:** Matthew Sparks **Re:** Technical feasibility of the "Layout & Formats Design" scope item ## Summary Before this gets scoped out to the helpdesk student team, I want to flag a gap between what the proposal describes and what TDX's platform will actually let us build — specifically around the "modern grid layouts," "responsive," and "WCAG 2.1 AA compliance" language for **article display formats**. **Short version:** Portal homepages and landing pages have real design flexibility through TDX's Page/module system. Individual Knowledge Base article content does not — it runs through a fixed, non-configurable HTML/CSS sanitizer that blocks `<style>` tags, `<link>` tags, and several CSS properties needed for true responsive grid/flex layouts (`grid-template-columns`, `gap`, `flex-direction`, media queries, etc.). This restriction applies platform-wide and cannot be lifted, even at the enterprise admin level. ## What this means practically - **Achievable as-is:** article styling via inline CSS on individual elements — spacing, borders, colors, fonts, basic table formatting, callout boxes, image sizing. Fluid scaling (percentage-based widths) works; true responsive breakpoints do not. - **Not achievable at any permission level:** `<style>` blocks, external stylesheets, CSS Grid/Flexbox layout, media queries, animations/transforms — these are permanently disallowed in TDX's content sanitizer, not a permissions issue we can escalate around. - **Partially achievable:** WCAG 2.1 AA. Heading structure, alt text, and color contrast are all within reach. Full AA compliance (e.g., reflow at 400% zoom) depends on the same responsive tooling that's unavailable at the article level. ## Recommendation I'd suggest splitting the scope before mockups begin: 1. **Homepage/landing page redesign** — proceed as proposed; real flexibility exists here through the Page/module system and portal theme settings. 2. **Article display format redesign** — scope this against TDX's actual allowlist rather than open-ended "modern layout" language, so students aren't designing mockups that can't ship. I've put together a more detailed reference doc (attached) laying out exactly what's possible. 3. **Admin access question** — several of the more advanced options (widening the CSS allowlist, defining portal-wide reusable classes) live in TDAdmin, which is enterprise-admin-only. Worth deciding now whether that funnels through me as requests, or whether we're comfortable extending elevated access to student staff — that's a separate governance conversation from the design work itself. Happy to walk through this together before the kickoff if useful.