VA content guidelines

To speak with one voice and create a consistent, helpful experience for Clinicians and therefore Veterans, we direct our app teams to follow VA.gov and VA Web Governance for guidelines about the content incorporated in VA Clinician applications.

VA style guide

The VA style guide covers common issues such as:

• Abbreviations and acronyms
• Alternative text for images
• Button labels
• Error message content
• Health content
• Naming and labels
• Page titles and section titles
• And more…

See their content principles for the house voice and tone, and the foundation for how they practice language for and with Veterans in mind.

VA web governance

For information on how VA employees and contractors who are responsible for building and maintaining the Department’s digital presence, see the VA Web Governance site.

VA web governance covers:

• Standards for VA policies, directives and guidelines that impact websites and social media.
• Design basic standards, best practices on designing VA websites and applications.
• Resources for services available to web managers to improve performance and usability.
• A listing of key offices integral to operation and management of VA websites and offices that participate in web governance.

Accessibility at the VA

For more information about accessibility and how to report issues, submit requests, and learn about accessibility compliance, visit Accessibility at the VA on VA.gov.

For more information about accessibility and accessibility compliance, visit Accessibility at USWDS.

Use of this Design System

The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA), signed into law in December 2018, requires teams at VA to consider using the U.S. Web Design System, and to coordinate and ensure alignment of internal and external programs. Thus we strongly encourage you to use the VA design system and/or the US Web Design System as you are building products, whether for an internal or external audience. However, there is currently no requirement to follow the guidance in this design system for internal tools.

From 21st Century IDEA:

(c) Internal Digital Services.–The head of each executive agency shall ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, that any Intranet established after the date of enactment of this Act conforms to the requirements described in subsection (a).

While Subsection A does not mandate use of the U.S. Design System for internal tools, it does indicate that it is part of the strategy an agency should employ:

coordinate and ensure alignment of the internal and external customer experience programs and strategy of the executive agency; and Compliance With United States Website Standards.–Any website of an executive agency that is made available to the public after the date of enactment of this Act shall be in compliance with the website standards of the Technology Transformation Services of the General Services Administration.