U.S. Web Design System
{{short description|Digital service provided by the United States Government}}{{Infobox website
| name = U.S. Web Design System
| logo = USWDS logo.png
| founded = 2015
| area_served = U.S. government and customers
| owner = General Services Administration (GSA){{Break}}Technology Transformation Services (TTS)
| services = Web design system
| website = {{URL|https://designsystem.digital.gov/}}
| commercial = No
}}
The U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) is a collection of user interface components and style guide for design patterns for web development. USWDS supports accessibility and mobile-friendly requirements and a consistent experience across government websites. It includes the font Public Sans.
History
USWDS was created in 2015 as a collaboration between 18F, the United States Digital Service, and the 10x program.{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://designsystem.digital.gov/about/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=10x invites federal employees to pitch government-tech ideas to solve problems for the public |url=https://www.gsa.gov/blog/2023/10/26/10x-invites-federal-employees-to-pitch-governmenttech-ideas-to-solve-problems-for-the-public |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=U.S. General Services Administration |language=en}} In 2018, the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA) mandated that executive branch websites meet the websites standards established by the Technology Transformation Services department, the department within which USWDS operates.
In 2019, USWDS launched version 2.0 which included a custom font, Public Sans. The Public Sans typeface allows for 9 different line weights.{{Cite web |last=Bowman |first=M. W. |date=2019-04-16 |title=Why the US Government Just Made Its Own Font |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-the-us-government-just-made-its-own-font/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Vice |language=en-US}} USWDS 3.0 was released in 2022 with support for Sass (style sheet language), a CSS pre-processor.{{Cite web |first1=Dan O. |last1=Williams |first2=James |last2=Mejia |first3= Amy |last3=Leadem |first4=Bonnie |last4=Cameron |first5=Charlie |last5=Mahoney |date=2022-04-28 |title=Introducing USWDS 3.0 |url=https://designsystem.digital.gov/whats-new/updates/2022/04/28/introducing-uswds-3-0/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=U.S. Web Design System |language=en}}
In September 2023, USWDS was in use at 94 agencies and 160 websites with an estimated 1.1 billion page views.{{Cite magazine |title=Inside the US government's brilliantly boring websites |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/26/1093656/us-government-website-design-accessibility/ |magazine=MIT Technology Review |language=en |date=June 26, 2024 |volume=127 |number=4}}
Compliance with website requirements
U.S. government websites are required to comply with multiple accessibility requirements. The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA) stipulates that public-facing agency websites have a consistent look, include mobile-friendly versions of paper-based documents, and meet the accessibility needs of people with disabilities.{{Cite web |last=Chappellet-Lanier |first=Tajha |date=2018-12-20 |title=President Trump signs 21st Century IDEA into law |url=https://fedscoop.com/president-trump-signs-21st-century-idea-law/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=FedScoop |language=en-US}} The same year of the IDEA's signing, traffic from mobile devices surpassed desktop devices for the first time.{{Cite web |last=Chappellet-Lanier |first=Tajha |date=2019-10-15 |title=How designing federal websites for mobile may benefit the desktop user experience as well |url=https://fedscoop.com/mobile-web-design-benefits-desktop/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=FedScoop |language=en-US}}
USWDS also seeks to help agencies meet Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 compliance.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://designsystem.digital.gov/}}
- [https://github.com/uswds/uswds GitHub repository]