Connected Government Act

As of July of 2018, all new and redesigned agency websites are required to be mobile-friendly.

The Connected Government Act (H.R.2331) was signed into law on January 10, 2018, and requires new and redesigned federal agency public websites to be mobile-friendly. The General Services Administration (GSA) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) submitted a report to Congress in 2019 that describes how agencies can implement the law and assess their compliance.

What Is Mobile-Friendly?

Mobile-friendly means a digital product can be navigated, viewed and accessed on a smartphone, tablet computer, or similar mobile device.

  • Is Your Site Mobile-Friendly? 
    Many of us get toward the end of mobile site development and really do not know if what we created is “mobile-friendly.” We think we have followed all of the mobile best practices and performed usability testing. However, do we have something concrete to quantitatively certify that we are mobile-friendly? 
    https://digital.gov/resources/guide-create-mobile-friendly-websites/

Create a Mobile Strategy

Do you know how mobile fits into your agency’s larger digital strategy? If not, these articles will help you.

Agency Examples and Recommendations

Resources to help your agency comply with the Connected Government Act.

  • Mobile User Experience Guidelines and Recommendations 
    As more agencies develop mobile apps and websites, they need quick guidance on mobile user experience Do’s and Don’ts. To answer their call, we asked MobileGov Community of Practice members to choose their top Mobile UX Guidelines from the original group of 42. From that feedback, we have distilled the following six mobile user experience guidelines. 
    https://digital.gov/resources/mobile-user-experience-guidelines-and-rec…

Design for Your Users

Great mobile design requires all the best practices from Human Centered Design and should provide consistent information as other agency channels.

  • You’ll Have Them at Swipe: Making An Awesome Mobile User Experience Webinar 
    In this webinar, MobileGov developers from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Veterans Affairs talk about how mobile user experience is different from traditional channels, discuss how to approach user experience during mobile implementations, and demonstrate their successful practices. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2013/02/11/youll-have-them-at-swipe-making-a…
  • Always Future Ready: The Benefits of Open Content Models and Structured Data Webinar 
    The National Cancer Institute (NCI) discusses what structured content and open content models can do, to help government agencies create content that is platform-agnostic, format-free, and device-independent. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2013/10/28/always-future-ready-the-benefits-…
  • Responsive Web Design Challenges Webinar Recap 
    A website redesign is never an easy task, but when responsiveness is one of your redesign’s key goals, special considerations come into play that can present unique challenges. In the webinar on responsive web design challenges in government, we heard from two agencies who identified coordination, leadership buy-in and content decisions when mobilizing their websites. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/10/21/responsive-web-design-challenges-…
  • Open and Structured Content Models Workshop Recap 
    The Open and Structured Content Models Working Group, an interagency working group, has been exploring the approach for government and they have created two open and structured content models—one for articles and one for events. They hosted a workshop so agencies could hear from a few organizations who are already putting these ideas into practice. Attendees discussed how to build the case for the content model approach, how the models work in practice and how to implement the existing models. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/10/27/open-and-structured-content-model…
  • Mobile Content: Less is More 
    How big is your smartphone? Way smaller than a desktop monitor. The user will have a radically different experience on a desktop, and they are usually expecting a different experience. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2015/08/31/mobile-content-less-is-more/
  • How to Make a Mobile Paper Prototype 
    Well before we get into the design and coding phases, we can show customers a mockup of an idea of what our product might look like. It’s called a prototype (or a wireframe)—it’s a model of a design that’s still in development. It doesn’t need to be fancy, or even made on a computer. But it can make the difference between a product that looks good and one that people will actually use. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/05/22/how-to-make-a-mobile-paper-protot…
  • Design Sketching: The Easiest Prototype Method Ever 
    Smart designers create a “low-fidelity” prototype of your product—a rough approximation of what it’s going to look like so people can actually interact with it. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/08/08/design-sketching-the-easiest-prot…
  • Federalist Is out of Beta and Open for Business 
    In one package, built on a trusted, FedRAMP authorized platform, we provide a hosting solution for your site with flexibility to scale and security compliance built in. On top of the technical advantages, we also provide some basic templates built to meet Section 508 Standards, and a guide to help you shape your content. All of this lets you focus on designing the content and structure of your site and leave the rest to us. 
    https://digital.gov/2017/06/05/federalist-is-out-of-beta-and-open-for-b…
  • U.S. Web Design System + DigitalGov 
    The System provides an increasingly important service to government modernization. 
    https://designsystem.digital.gov/whats-new/updates/2017/12/20/2017-wher…

Agency Examples and Recommendations

Resources to help your agency comply with the Connected Government Act.

Pay Attention to Analytics

Analytics are everywhere! This section will help you uncover and analyze the data you need to make mobile users happy.

  • Measuring Your Mobile Users 
    The Digital Analytics Program (DAP) Learning Series: Measuring Your Mobile Users webinar, co-sponsored by the MobileGov Community of Practice, focused on measuring mobile users with DAP’s analytics tools, which are essentially a pre-configured version of Google Analytics. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2017/05/15/webinar-recap-measuring-your-mobi…
  • Using ‘Pirate Metrics’ to Analyze Your Mobile Application’s Audience 
    The pirate metrics framework is a good way to understand how your product is performing. Coined by David McClure, the “pirate” in the metrics comes from the first letters of the lifecycle stages of the framework. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2016/05/12/using-pirate-metrics-to-analyze-y…
  • 4 Tips for Analyzing Mobile Traffic with DAP 
    It’s important to optimize your mobile experience. You can use data from the Digital Analytics Program (DAP) to gain insight on your mobile traffic. Do you know the mobile characteristics of your users? Here are four useful tips and reports to analyze your users’ mobile experience. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2016/02/05/4-tips-for-analyzing-mobile-traff…

Develop Your Site

What’s the best way to build a mobile website? Below are some approaches and tools we think you will find helpful.

  • A Guide to Creating Mobile-Friendly Websites 
    JavaScript usage, CSS usage, image and resource sizing, caching/network usage, and popups. These are the top five practices that the most visited government websites should focus on in order to be more mobile-friendly. But how can you work on each of these areas to help ensure your website keeps mobile users delighted and coming back? 
    https://digital.gov/resources/guide-improve-mobile-friendly-websites/
  • Responsive Design Overview, Resources and Tools 
    Responsive web design refers to a fluidly-constructed web page layout that scales from handheld device displays to large, high-resolution computer displays using flexible typography, flexible images, fluid grids, and CSS3 media queries. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2013/06/11/responsive-design/
  • Accessibility 
    The Accessibility Guild in the Technology Transformation Services (TTS) at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) set out to understand how people in different roles practice accessibility. We asked designers, developers, and product managers across our organization to share their accessibility practices, from self-testing to asking for help. We heard about the barriers that can stand in the way of making products more accessible, from lack of knowledge to lack of buy-in. 
    https://digital.gov/2018/07/10/introducing-accessibility-for-teams/
  • Mobile Development and Testing with Chrome Developer Tools 
    Chrome Developer Tools (or DevTools) are a set of web authoring and debugging tools built into the Google Chrome web browser. Its controls allow you to simulate a wide range of devices, and help you build responsive, mobile-first web experiences. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2016/11/21/mobile-development-and-testing-wi…
  • 8 Ways to Format Tables for Responsive Web Design 
    We regularly access charts and tables on our desktop computer to glean valuable information from a pile of data. But, how can you display a full-size, desktop sized chart on a 4-inch smartphone screen, and make it remain useful? 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/10/28/trends-on-tuesday-8-ways-to-forma…
  • HHS Conquers Tables in a Responsive Design 
    We moved HHS.gov to a responsive template to ensure that users accessing our site in a mobile environment had the best possible experience. Our department faced several challenges in moving a site the size of HHS.gov into a responsive template and one of those challenges surrounded our need to make tables work in a responsive environment. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/10/30/hhs-conquers-tables-in-a-responsi…

Test Your Mobile Website

You need to embed testing in the creation, development and launch of your mobile product. These articles will give what you need to know to test successfully.

Focus on Performance

If your mobile product breaks a user’s phone, you are not creating a good experience. Here are some concepts and approaches you should apply to your development process to avoid a bulky product.

Case Studies and Good Examples

There are a number of resources in the private sector for designing excellent user experience. Here are some recommended by the MobileGov Community of Practice.

  • The Benefits of Being Push-y: Reaching Your Audience Through Push Notifications 
    Push notifications allow agencies to connect with their audiences for immediate communication. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM)’s OPM Alert app provides a real time look at the current operating status for federal offices in the Washington, DC, area and uses push technology to alert users of status changes. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2016/02/23/the-benefits-of-being-push-y-reac…
  • Fostering Medical Innovation: A Plan for Digital Health Devices 
    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Digital Health Innovation Plan is focused on fostering innovation at the intersection of medicine and digital health technology. This plan will include a novel, post-market approach to how we intend to regulate these digital medical devices. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2017/06/16/fostering-medical-innovation-a-pl…
  • The Smithsonian’s IPOP Exhibition Framework: Lessons for a Human-Centered Content Approach 
    The Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Policy and Analysis has another tool to consider for your UX toolbox: IPOP. It was formed to guide exhibition design, and born from years of research studies and interviews with Smithsonian visitors. IPOP is a useful framework for building a content strategy and thinking about audience diversity and preference differences. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2016/12/08/the-smithsonians-ipop-exhibition-…
  • Welcome to the New DHS.gov 
    DHS.gov now works for desktop computers, tablets and smartphones, making it easier to get the information you need—wherever you are—in the format appropriate for your device. https://www.digitalgov.gov/2016/06/09/welcome-to-the-new-dhs-gov/
  • Building Brick by Brick: Ed.gov’s Website Redesign and Mobile Implementation 
    The U.S. Department of Education’s website and blogs now have responsive design and Bootstrap styling. The combination of responsive themes and Bootstrap means that Ed.gov pages automatically adjust to the size of smartphones or tablets. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2015/02/12/building-brick-by-brick-ed-govs-w…
  • My TSA Mobile App 
    The MY TSA mobile app and website developed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is designed to help passengers better prepare for security so they can get through TSA airport security checkpoints more efficiently. The app has multiple functions to help travelers and uses information from TSA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), NOAA and users. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/2012/02/22/my-tsa-mobile-app/

Other Resources

We've covered the essentials above, but below is information about policies, platforms, and other resources you should think about when building a mobile experience.

App Platforms

If you are creating an app, you will need to work with the platform to get your app added to their store. The following have federal-compatible Terms of Service agreements.

Native Apps or Progressive Web Apps

Should you focus your efforts on either of these two options?

Native Apps

Progressive Web Apps

Initiatives, security, and privacy

When you are building an app or creating a mobile-friendly site, there are certain requirements to be aware of.

Initiatives

Security

Privacy

  • Mobile SOW and Developer Qualifications 
    We are providing sample Statement of Work (SOW) language for the procurement of customer or external-facing mobile products, skills, testing and mobile code sharing. This language is also included in the RFP-EZ contracting tool. Here are some guidelines for its use. 
    https://www.digitalgov.gov/resources/mobile-sow-and-developer-qualifica…
  • Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites and Digital Services The review of privacy risks should begin at the earliest planning and development stages of agency actions and policies that involve PII, and should continue throughout both the development and information lifecycles. See Delivering a digital-first public experience.

U.S. Digital Registry

Resource to confirm the official status of social media and public-facing collaboration accounts, mobile apps, and mobile websites: U.S. Digital Registry