Find a USWDS 2.0 theme to build 18F guide template

[cmajel]

As an 18F designer, I want it to be easy for teams to build guides and microsites that match 18F's style so that we are presenting a consistent message and can save teams time.

As an 18Fer building a microsite, I want to have a maintained guide template that uses tech I'm familiar with so that I can build quickly.

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There are a number of teams who are starting to work on guides and are looking to use USWDS2 in their front end theme. Currently, there isn't an 18F themed USWDS2 template. Existing guides use unmaintained templates that often don't reflect 18F styles.

This work is to learn what template we should build from and get a gut check on who is working on this, and how we might build an 18F front end theme.

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Next steps:

• [x] Confirm that most of the old guides use Jekyll
  • See the mural of 18F guides and their templating systems #191
• [x] Learn what it takes to theme a version of the USWDS Federalist Jekyll templates that most new sites are using
  • We can copy in the USWDS CSS theming files which then can be configured.
• [ ] Learn how we should house and store a theme
  • How do we avoid it from becoming out of date?
  • How do we set it up so that it can upgrade with other federalist templates?
• [ ] See if someone else has already started this work
  • Contenders include 18F site team, portfolio teams and content guide team

Future work:

• Scope the theme (basic styles + how many components?)
• Build theme

[cmajel]

USWDS Nov call discussed the new Jekyll theme and there have also been updates to the 18F site and federalist themes.

Investigate this further: https://github.com/18F/federalist-uswds-jekyll

[cmajel]

A few updates on this:

• We've started work on a fork of the federalist-uswds-jekyll that incorporates 18F styles: https://github.com/cmajel/federalist-uswds-jekyll

• I've also been working with @brentryanjohnson who is revamping the content guide to test out the new theme. Work can be seen here: https://github.com/18F/content-guide-uswds/tree/theming-18f

• Met with the guild and practice leads to get their feedback and to discuss distribution (generally positive)

• Also connected with @MelissaBraxton to explore using the UX guide as another POC for the guide template

[cmajel]

Some added updates on this:

• The guide work now lives here: https://github.com/18F/federalist-jekyll-uswds-18f-port

• The folks actively working on projects that have asked about site starters that work with 18F styles and new GSA requirements include:

  • Content guide, work is here
  • UX guide, work is here
  • 10x State Budgeting Handbook team
  • Human Services portfolio team

• There is ongoing conversation about the path forward for TTS documentation themes with the tech portfolio and about the uswds-jeykll vs site starter approach.

[cmajel]

Look at the UX guide, which was updated to a version of uswds-jekyll with USWDS2, and see if...

• we can use that as the template
• if not, what additions would be needed? is it flexible enough to handle those additions? Get a gut check on how hard it would be to get...
  • The anchor footer
  • Search configuration
  • Style parity with the federalist port

[cmajel]

Research plan on different development experiences

Next step is to start setting up conversations with teams.