diff --git a/src/components/info/byline.js b/src/components/info/byline.tsx
similarity index 85%
rename from src/components/info/byline.js
rename to src/components/info/byline.tsx
index 83f136611..450bb24a6 100644
--- a/src/components/info/byline.js
+++ b/src/components/info/byline.tsx
@@ -1,25 +1,25 @@
 import React from "react";
-import { connect } from "react-redux";
 import { withTranslation } from 'react-i18next';
 import styled from 'styled-components';
 import { headerFont } from "../../globalStyles";
+import { MetadataState} from "../../reducers/metadata";
+
+interface Props {
+  t: any; // TODO XXX - look up how to type WithTranslation
+  metadata: MetadataState
+}
 
 /**
  * React component for the byline of the current dataset.
  * This details (non-dynamic) information about the dataset, such as the
  * maintainers, source, data provenance etc.
  */
-@connect((state) => {
-  return {
-    metadata: state.metadata
-  };
-})
-class Byline extends React.Component {
-  render() {
+class Byline extends React.Component<Props> {
+  override render() {
     const { t } = this.props;
     return (
       <>
-        {renderAvatar(t, this.props.metadata)}
+        {renderAvatar(this.props.metadata)}
         {renderBuildInfo(t, this.props.metadata)}
         {renderMaintainers(t, this.props.metadata)}
         {renderDataUpdated(t, this.props.metadata)}
@@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ const AvatarImg = styled.img`
  * Renders the GitHub avatar of the current dataset for datasets with a `buildUrl`
  * which is a GitHub repo. The avatar image is fetched from GitHub (by the client).
  */
-function renderAvatar(t, metadata) {
+function renderAvatar(metadata: MetadataState) {
   const repo = metadata.buildUrl;
-  if (typeof repo === 'string') {
+  if (repo) {
     const match = repo.match(/(https?:\/\/)?(www\.)?github.com\/([^/]+)/);
     if (match) {
       return (
@@ -55,10 +55,10 @@ function renderAvatar(t, metadata) {
  * Returns a React component detailing the source of the build (pipeline).
  * Renders a <span> containing "Built with X", where X derives from `metadata.buildUrl`
  */
-function renderBuildInfo(t, metadata) {
+function renderBuildInfo(t, metadata: MetadataState) {
   if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(metadata, "buildUrl")) {
     const repo = metadata.buildUrl;
-    if (typeof repo === 'string') {
+    if (typeof repo === 'string') { // TODO - we can relax this now that we have proper types
       if (repo.startsWith("https://") || repo.startsWith("http://") || repo.startsWith("www.")) {
         return (
           <span>
@@ -80,11 +80,11 @@ function renderBuildInfo(t, metadata) {
  * Returns a React component detailing the maintainers of the build (pipeline).
  * Renders a <span> containing "Maintained by X", where X derives from `metadata.maintainers`
  */
-function renderMaintainers(t, metadata) {
+function renderMaintainers(t, metadata: MetadataState): JSX.Element | null {
   let maintainersArray;
   if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(metadata, "maintainers")) {
     maintainersArray = metadata.maintainers;
-    if (Array.isArray(maintainersArray) && maintainersArray.length) {
+    if (Array.isArray(maintainersArray) && maintainersArray.length) {  // TODO - we can relax this now that we have proper types
       return (
         <span>
           {t("Maintained by") + " "}
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ function renderMaintainers(t, metadata) {
  * Returns a React component detailing the date the data was last updated.
  * Renders a <span> containing "Data updated X", where X derives from `metadata.updated`
  */
-function renderDataUpdated(t, metadata) {
+function renderDataUpdated(t, metadata: MetadataState): JSX.Element | null {
   if (metadata.updated) {
     return (
       <span>
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ function renderDataUpdated(t, metadata) {
  * Renders a <span> containing "Enabled by data from X", where X derives from `metadata.dataProvenance`
  * Note that this function includes logic to special-case certain values which may appear there.
  */
-function renderDataProvenance(t, metadata) {
+function renderDataProvenance(t, metadata: MetadataState): JSX.Element | null {
   if (!Array.isArray(metadata.dataProvenance)) return null;
   const sources = metadata.dataProvenance
     .filter((source) => typeof source === "object")
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ const BylineLink = styled.a`
   font-weight: 500;
 `;
 
-function Link({url, children}) {
+function Link({url, children}): JSX.Element {
   return (
     <BylineLink rel="noopener noreferrer" href={url} target="_blank">
       {children}
diff --git a/src/components/info/info.js b/src/components/info/info.tsx
similarity index 75%
rename from src/components/info/info.js
rename to src/components/info/info.tsx
index 7734df881..35f08c9d7 100644
--- a/src/components/info/info.js
+++ b/src/components/info/info.tsx
@@ -1,11 +1,34 @@
 import React from "react";
-import { connect } from "react-redux";
+import { connect, ConnectedProps } from "react-redux";
 import { withTranslation } from 'react-i18next';
 import Card from "../framework/card";
 import { titleFont, headerFont, medGrey, darkGrey } from "../../globalStyles";
 import Byline from "./byline";
 import {datasetSummary} from "./datasetSummary";
 import FiltersSummary from "./filtersSummary";
+import { RootState } from "../../store";
+
+const mapState = (state: RootState) => {
+  // can we generalise the mapState function so the following is for free?
+  if (!state.metadata.loaded) { // loaded is the discriminant property to narrow types
+    throw new Error("Something's gone seriously wrong")
+  }
+  return {
+    browserWidth: state.browserDimensions.browserDimensions.width,
+    animationPlayPauseButton: state.controls.animationPlayPauseButton,
+    metadata: state.metadata,
+    nodes: state.tree.nodes,
+    branchLengthsToDisplay: state.controls.branchLengthsToDisplay,
+    visibility: state.tree.visibility
+  }
+}
+const connector = connect(mapState)
+type PropsFromRedux = ConnectedProps<typeof connector>
+
+interface Props extends PropsFromRedux {
+  t: any; // TODO XXX - look up how to type WithTranslation
+  width: number;
+}
 
 /**
  * The <Info> panel is shown above data viz panels and conveys static and dynamic
@@ -15,22 +38,12 @@ import FiltersSummary from "./filtersSummary";
  * Dataset summary (dynamic)
  * Current Filters (dynamic)
  */
-@connect((state) => {
-  return {
-    browserWidth: state.browserDimensions.browserDimensions.width,
-    animationPlayPauseButton: state.controls.animationPlayPauseButton,
-    metadata: state.metadata,
-    nodes: state.tree.nodes,
-    branchLengthsToDisplay: state.controls.branchLengthsToDisplay,
-    visibility: state.tree.visibility
-  };
-})
-class Info extends React.Component {
+class Info extends React.Component<Props> {
   constructor(props) {
     super(props);
   }
 
-  render() {
+  override render() {
     const { t } = this.props;
     if (!this.props.metadata || !this.props.nodes || !this.props.visibility) return null;
     const styles = computeStyles(this.props.width, this.props.browserWidth);
@@ -40,15 +53,15 @@ class Info extends React.Component {
       <Card center infocard>
         <div style={styles.base}>
 
-          <div width={this.props.width} style={styles.title}>
-            {this.props.metadata.title || ""}
+          <div style={styles.title}>
+            {this.props.metadata.title}
           </div>
 
-          <div width={this.props.width} style={styles.byline}>
-            <Byline/>
+          <div style={styles.byline}>
+            <Byline metadata={this.props.metadata}/>
           </div>
 
-          <div width={this.props.width} style={styles.n}>
+          <div style={styles.n}>
             {animating ? t("Animation in progress") + ". " : null}
             {showExtended &&
               <>
@@ -111,5 +124,5 @@ function computeStyles(width, browserWidth) {
   };
 }
 
-const WithTranslation = withTranslation()(Info);
+const WithTranslation = withTranslation()(connector(Info));
 export default WithTranslation;
diff --git a/src/reducers/metadata.ts b/src/reducers/metadata.ts
index 1a47b3320..493db153a 100644
--- a/src/reducers/metadata.ts
+++ b/src/reducers/metadata.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import * as types from "../actions/types";
 import { DatasetJsonRootSequence, DatasetJson, DatasetJsonMeta } from "../types/datasetJson";
 
-export interface MetadataState {
+export interface MetadataState { // TODO -- work out exactly what properties you want to have as required here
   loaded: true;
   rootSequence: DatasetJsonRootSequence;
   identicalGenomeMapAcrossBothTrees: boolean;
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ export interface MetadataState {
   displayDefaults: Record<string,any>; // TODO XXX
   panels: Required<DatasetJsonMeta>['panels'];
   mainTreeNumTips: number;
-  title: Required<DatasetJsonMeta>['title'];
+  title: DatasetJsonMeta['title'];
   version: DatasetJson['version'];
   filters: Required<DatasetJsonMeta>['filters'];
   dataProvenance: Required<DatasetJsonMeta>['data_provenance'];
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ export function convertIncompleteMetadataStateToMetadataState(meta: IncompleteMe
   // and we don't want to be doing that. What's the best path here?
   const expectedProperties: [string, string, any][] = [
     // THIS IS INCOMPLETE - TODO XXX
-    ["title", "string", null],
+    // ["title", "string", null], // title is optional!
     ["version", "string", null],
     ["filters", "string", []],
     ["updated", "string", new Error("JSON.meta missing property 'updated' which is essential")], // TKTK - it's not essential, just for testing