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

GOV.UK Frontend contains the code you need to start building a user interface for government platforms and services.

See live examples of GOV.UK Frontend components, and guidance on when to use them in your service, in the GOV.UK Design System.

Contact the team

GOV.UK Frontend is maintained by a team at Government Digital Service. If you want to know more about GOV.UK Frontend, please email the Design System team or get in touch with them on Slack.

Quick start

There are 2 ways to start using GOV.UK Frontend in your app.

Once installed, you will be able to use the code from the examples in the GOV.UK Design System in your service.

1. Install with npm (recommended)

We recommend installing GOV.UK Frontend using node package manager (npm).

2. Install by using compiled files

You can also download the compiled and minified assets (CSS, JavaScript) from GitHub.

Importing styles

You need to import the GOV.UK Frontend styles into the main Sass file in your project. You should place the below code before your own Sass rules (or Sass imports) if you want to override GOV.UK Frontend with your own styles.

To import add the below to your Sass file:

@import "node_modules/govuk-frontend/all";

More details on importing styles

Importing JavaScript

Some of the JavaScript included in GOV.UK Frontend improves the usability and accessibility of the components. You should make sure that you are importing and initialising Javascript in your application to ensure that all users can use it successfully.

You can include Javascript for all components either by copying the all.js from node_modules/govuk-frontend into your application or referencing the file directly:

<script src="<path-to-govuk-frontend-all-file>/all.js"></script>

Next you need to initialise the script by adding:

<script>window.GOVUKFrontend.initAll()</script>

More details on importing Javascript and advanced options

Importing assets

In order to import GOV.UK Frontend images and fonts to your project, you should configure your application to reference or copy the relevant GOV.UK Frontend assets.

More details on importing assets

Getting updates

To check whether you have the latest version of GOV.UK Frontend, run:

npm outdated govuk-frontend

To update to the latest version, run:

npm update govuk-frontend

Licence

Unless stated otherwise, the codebase is released under the MIT License. This covers both the codebase and any sample code in the documentation. The documentation is © Crown copyright and available under the terms of the Open Government 3.0 licence.

Contribution guidelines

If you want to help us build GOV.UK Frontend, view our contribution guidelines.