# U.S. Web Design System

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{{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](/source/General_Services_Administration) (GSA){{Break}}[Technology Transformation Services](/source/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](/source/Public_Sans).

== History ==

USWDS was created in 2015 as a collaboration between [18F](/source/18F), the [United States Digital Service](/source/United_States_Digital_Service), and the [10x program](/source/10x_(innovation_program)).<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://designsystem.digital.gov/about/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> 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](/source/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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> USWDS 3.0 was released in 2022 with support for [Sass](/source/Sass_(style_sheet_language)), a [CSS](/source/CSS) pre-processor.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

In September 2023, USWDS was in use at 94 agencies and 160 websites with an estimated 1.1 billion page views.<ref>{{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](/source/MIT_Technology_Review) |language=en |date=June 26, 2024 |volume=127 |number=4}}</ref>

== 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> The same year of the IDEA's signing, traffic from mobile devices surpassed desktop devices for the first time.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

USWDS also seeks to help agencies meet [Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973](/source/Section_508_Amendment_to_the_Rehabilitation_Act_of_1973) compliance.

== See also ==

* [Civic technology](/source/Civic_technology)
* [Service design](/source/Service_design)
* [18F](/source/18F)
* [Technology Transformation Services](/source/Technology_Transformation_Services)

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|https://designsystem.digital.gov/}}
* [https://github.com/uswds/uswds GitHub repository]

Category:E-government in the United States
Category:General Services Administration

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [U.S. Web Design System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Web_Design_System) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Web_Design_System?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.