About
Monthly calls
At USWDS monthly calls, we share important updates and tips about how to use the design system.
Register for upcoming calls on Digital.gov. All USWDS videos are available on our YouTube page.
March 2024 : Building with USWDS tools
Learn how to build new components that look and feel consistent with existing components.
Our USWDS team did a live tutorial on customizing and extending USWDS. We covered working with settings, applying tokens, handling style conflicts, and ensuring good color contrast.
- March 2024 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 1.9 MB, 20 pages)
- March 2024 event page at Digital.gov
- Q&A from the March 2024 USWDS monthly call
February 2024 : USWDS component lifecycle
How ideas for new components become proposals and how you can help
We reviewed how community suggestions become formal proposals for new components. USWDS counts on community feedback and we encourage you to contribute. We also talked about the lifecycle for existing components.
- February 2024 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 5.8 MB, 81 pages)
- February 2024 event page at Digital.gov
- Q&A from the February 2024 USWDS monthly call
January 2024 : Component-based accessibility tests
Manual accessibility tests for the whole team
We shared new component-based accessibility test pages (formerly called “critical checklists”) for the accordion, button, and link components. We also discussed the months of work that led to their launch. The process started with internal manual accessibility testing of USWDS components. We then prototyped the pages that explain how we tested and what we found in those tests. Later, usability testing with participants from the USWDS community shaped the iterative development of these pages. We look forward to updating the community as we roll out accessibility tests for more USWDS components.
- January 2024 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 7.8 MB, 87 pages)
- January 2024 event page at Digital.gov
November 2023 : Designing a repeatable research process with people with disabilities
Managing and sustaining our user research
We continued a discussion from the October monthly call about ongoing research on how the design system works for users with disabilities. We presented more research findings and talked about what those results mean for USWDS components. We also defined best research practices and plans to continue, improve, and share findings from this work.
- November 2023 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 6.3 MB, 63 pages)
- November 2023 script and more at Digital.gov
October 2023 : Conducting user research on how USWDS serves people with disabilities
How to develop a sustainable, repeatable research process
One of our roadmap goals is to conduct more user research with people who have disabilities — and to ensure we’re doing so regularly. We shared our progress and reported on findings from our first round of this research: working with users who have visual impairments to conduct usability tests on design system components.
- October 2023 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 9.2 MB, 111 pages)
- October 2023 script and more at Digital.gov
September 2023 : Mission, vision, and polestar
Stepping back to look at the big picture
It’s been eight years since the first public release of USWDS. What have we done? Where are we going? What have we learned? We revisited our mission and vision as we looked out in the direction of the next eight years.
- September 2023 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 3.4 MB, 99 pages)
- September 2023 script and more at Digital.gov
August 2023 : Product roadmap
Looking ahead to 2024 for the U.S. Web Design System
The USWDS team shared the latest iteration of the design system’s product roadmap. We discussed how we develop, update, and publicly display our roadmap.
- August 2023 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 3.9 MB, 94 pages)
- August 2023 script and more at Digital.gov
June 2023 : Introducing critical checklists
Developing and evaluating content for manual accessibility and user experience (UX) tests
We talked about the easy-to-follow, manual accessibility and user experience (UX) tests we’re developing for USWDS components. We’re calling these tests Critical Checklists.
- June 2023 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 2.0 MB, 79 pages)
- June 2023 script and more at Digital.gov
May 2023 : Real-world accessibility
What’s it like to be blind and use the web in 2023
To observe Global Accessibility Awareness Day we talked about the real-world experience of blind users on the web.
April 2023 : Top tasks
What the U.S. Web Design System team did and what they found
We discussed how and why the USWDS team performed their Top Tasks research, as well as what they learned and what they’ll do next.
- April 2023 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 3.2 MB, 72 pages)
- April 2023 script and more at Digital.gov
March 2023 : Making sense: Attention and the brain
Cognition, perception, and design
The design system team took a step back and explored how our design decisions both support and are supported by the ways our bodies and brains perceive order and make sense of the world.
- March 2023 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 1.8 MB, 56 pages)
- March 2023 script and more at Digital.gov
February 2023 : Using design tokens
What design tokens are and how to adapt them to agency needs
Take a deep dive into USWDS design tokens. What are they? How are they used? How can they be adapted to agencies’ branding needs?
- February 2023 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 14.6 MB, 67 pages)
- February 2023 script and more at Digital.gov
January 2023 : Frequently asked questions
Answering your most-asked questions about the U.S. Web Design System
The USWDS team answered frequent questions, such as how to theme USWDS, how to set up custom fonts, and when new components get released.
- January 2023 slides (PowerPoint presentation, 1.9 MB, 60 pages)
- January 2023 script and more at Digital.gov
Latest updates
Meaningful code and guidance updates are listed in the following table:
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 2024-04-26 |
Added February 2024 monthly call. More information: uswds-site#2576 |
| 2024-02-09 |
Added January 2024 monthly call. More information: uswds-site#2465 |
| 2023-12-11 |
Added November 2023 monthly call. More information: uswds-site#2393 |
| 2023-11-06 |
Added monthly calls page. More information: uswds-site#2345 |
