News and Updates
Innovative work, news, and ideas from people and teams in government
USWDS Monthly Call - March 2023
Plain language on onrr.gov: coordination and implementation with web content owners
Strategies, examples, and lessons learned from coordinating with content owners to enhance plain language on onrr.gov. — via DOI Revenue Data

Testing Beta for Accessibility
The USAGov team strives to ensure all our websites are accessible to as many people as possible. This includes those who need the use of specialized assistive technologies when browsing the internet. In building beta.USA.gov we deliberately validated that it met Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 compliance requirements. Our testing approach includes a three step hybrid method that may be suitable for other agency use. — via USA.gov

5 Changes the UX Team Made for Beta
The USAGov UX team has made improvements to beta.usa.gov in new ways. See the five changes that help us understand user needs and pain points. — via USA.gov

Call for participation: Government UX summit 2023
The plain language tie to translating digital content
A happy compromise between people-first and plain language
Building Beta: The Foundation
The USAGov program has been developing a new iteration of our bilingual sites, USA.gov and USAGov en Español. In the process of building beta.USA.gov and beta.USA.gov en Español, we’ve been rethinking our work style and priorities. Follow the “Building Beta” series to learn how we’re reimagining the way we approach product management, usability, accessibility, content creation, analytics, and outreach. — via USA.gov

Understanding design in 10 questions
Working with the public to improve digital forms: A GSA case study
Challenge.Gov FY22 Year In Review
Challenge.gov is proud to be part of an ecosystem advancing open innovation in the federal government and engaging the public in open ways. Through the collective efforts of federal challenge managers and the ChallengeGov team, Challenge.gov hosted more prize competitions from a greater number of federal agencies than in previous years. Review fiscal year 2022’s accomplishments, and five goals for FY23. — via Challenge.gov

18F Checks In With Emily Read and the USGS Water Resources Mission Area Projects
At 18F, we like to keep in touch with our project partners. 18F partnered with the USGS Water Resources Mission Area from March 2020 to June 2022 on a wide variety of projects together. We caught up with Emily Read, Chief for the Web Communications Branch at USGS Water Resources Mission Area. — via 18F

Digital governance at GSA
Faster build times on cloud.gov Pages
We’ve made two recent changes to cloud.gov Pages to make website deployment faster so you can focus on your code, design, and content. — via cloud.gov

The U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) and onrr.gov
The U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) includes five design principles that facilitate human-centered design. In this post, we look at the work our team does to make sure we’re meeting each principle. — via DOI Revenue Data

Three Tips for Using Facebook and Instagram Stories
At USA.gov and USAGov en Español, we’re always looking for better ways to connect people to government information through social media. Using stories has helped us increase our engagement rate and our number of followers as we deliver helpful information to people. Stories may be a good addition to your agency’s social media strategy, too. These three tips can help you get started. — via USA.gov

USWDS Monthly Call - February 2023
Strengthening information accessibility for consumers with limited English proficiency
We listened to feedback from people who use our materials in various languages to make sure people could find the information they need most, in the language they prefer. Now we’re relaunching our pages in multiple languages. — via CFPB

We asked our design team: What did you learn in 2022, and what are you looking forward to in 2023?
The beginning of the year is a good time to hunker down, reflect on the past, and envision the future. We brought some of that reflection into a design chapter meeting, where we asked the team: “What did you learn in 2022? What are you looking forward to in 2023?” Here’s what some of our team members had to say. — via 18F
