govuk-frontend

What is govuk-frontend?

The govuk-frontend npm package provides a set of reusable, accessible components and styles for building user interfaces that align with the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) design principles. It is designed to help developers create consistent, user-friendly, and accessible web applications and services.

What are govuk-frontend's main functionalities?

Typography

GOV.UK Frontend provides a set of typography styles that ensure text is readable and accessible. The 'govuk-body' class is used to style paragraphs according to GDS standards.

<p class="govuk-body">This is a paragraph with GOV.UK Frontend styling.</p>

Buttons

GOV.UK Frontend includes styles for buttons that make them visually consistent and accessible. The 'govuk-button' class is used to style buttons.

<button class="govuk-button">Submit</button>

Forms

GOV.UK Frontend provides styles and components for creating accessible forms. The 'govuk-form-group', 'govuk-label', and 'govuk-input' classes are used to style form elements.

<form><div class="govuk-form-group"><label class="govuk-label" for="input-id">Label text</label><input class="govuk-input" id="input-id" name="input-name" type="text"></div></form>

Navigation

GOV.UK Frontend includes styles for navigation elements to ensure they are accessible and consistent. The 'govuk-nav', 'govuk-nav__list', 'govuk-nav__item', and 'govuk-nav__link' classes are used to style navigation menus.

<nav class="govuk-nav"><ul class="govuk-nav__list"><li class="govuk-nav__item"><a class="govuk-nav__link" href="#">Home</a></li><li class="govuk-nav__item"><a class="govuk-nav__link" href="#">About</a></li></ul></nav>

Notifications

GOV.UK Frontend provides components for displaying notifications and alerts. The 'govuk-notification-banner', 'govuk-notification-banner__header', 'govuk-notification-banner__title', and 'govuk-notification-banner__content' classes are used to style notification banners.

<div class="govuk-notification-banner"><div class="govuk-notification-banner__header"><h2 class="govuk-notification-banner__title">Important</h2></div><div class="govuk-notification-banner__content"><p class="govuk-notification-banner__heading">This is a notification message.</p></div></div>

Other packages similar to govuk-frontend

bootstrap

Bootstrap is a popular front-end framework for developing responsive and mobile-first websites. It provides a wide range of components and utilities similar to GOV.UK Frontend but is more general-purpose and not specifically tailored to government services.

foundation-sites

Foundation is another front-end framework that offers a variety of responsive components and styles. Like Bootstrap, it is a general-purpose framework and does not specifically adhere to government design principles.

uswds

The U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) provides a set of design guidelines and components for building accessible and consistent government websites in the United States. It is similar to GOV.UK Frontend but tailored to U.S. government standards.

README

GOV.UK Frontend - All components

All of the components in GOV.UK Frontend, in a single package.

Guidance

Find out when to use the Back link component in your service in the GOV.UK Design System.

Dependencies

To consume all components you must be running npm version 5 or above.

Installation

npm install --save govuk-frontend

Requirements

Build tool configuration

When compiling the Sass files you'll need to define includePaths to reference the node_modules directory. Below is a sample configuration using gulp

.pipe(sass({
  includePaths: 'node_modules/'
}))

Static asset path configuration

To show the button image you need to configure your app to show these assets. Below is a sample configuration using Express js:

app.use('/assets', express.static(path.join(__dirname, '/node_modules/govuk-frontend/assets')))

Setting up Nunjucks views and paths

Below is an example setup using express configure views:

nunjucks.configure('node_modules/govuk-frontend/components/', {
  autoescape: true,
  cache: false,
  express: app
})

Getting updates

To check whether you have the latest version of the button run:

npm outdated govuk-frontend

To update the latest version run:

npm update govuk-frontend

Contribution

Guidelines can be found at on our Github repository.

License

MIT