UK’s GDS theme is now available in open source Bootstrap variant
Public administrations that need to make their websites comply with rules on accessibility and open standards should consider reusing Govstrap.io, a port of the government’s Digital Services theme, built on Bootstrap’s HTML and CSS templates.
The combination of Govstrap and the Bootstrap HTML markup and cascading style sheets helps to build responsive and mobile-friendly websites and web applications. UK government websites can reuse the Gov.UK theme created by Government Digital Services (GDS).
OpusVL, the UK open source service provider that helped create Govstrap writes that Govstrap.io can be applied to existing Bootstrap sites with a single line of code.
From the OpusVL announcement:
“Websites built in Govstrap.io are fully responsive and display comfortably across all modern devices, re-using the significant GDS investment in user experience and accessibility, while also adhering to open source and open standards policies.”
The Govstrap version, available under the UK’s OpenGovernment Licence, was a by-product of OpusVL’s work on the Apperta Code4Health project, supported by the country’s National Health Service. The Govstrap theme also implements best practices for the use of colour contrast for those who have to navigate a site with just a keyboard, and supports screen readers for the blind or partially sighted.
“This will help web developers in the public sector to cut costs and improve the consistency of their web sites”, said Lauren Westley, marketeer for OpusVL.
Govstrap was published in July on GitHub. No UK public administration has reused the HTML and CSS templates, confirms Westley: “We’ve only just begun promoting it.” OpusVL are hoping to build up a community around this project and encourage government departments to reuse the web-site templates.
More information:
Govstrap.io
Govstrap at GitHub
Government Computing news item
Opensource.com news item