About federal website standards

Federal website standards will help agencies provide high-quality, consistent digital experiences for everyone. The standards cover common visual and technical elements and reflect user experience best practices.

Federal agencies are required to comply with website standards per the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA). Standards will align with the 21st Century IDEA, OMB’s memo on Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience (M-23-22), and other relevant policy requirements and best practices.

Status of the standards on this site

We’ll publish information about standards as they're being developed. Each standard will have a status to indicate where it is in the process.

• Research: This standard is being researched with the public, federal agencies, and other stakeholders.
• Draft: This standard has been drafted and is being shared with federal agencies and other stakeholders for feedback and iteration.
• Pending: This standard has been finalized. It will be required after a specified time period following its move to the pending status. Federal agencies can begin working to comply with pending standards.
• Required: Federal agencies must comply with this standard.

How standards are developed

The standards are developed through a rigorous and iterative process involving federal agencies, the public, and other stakeholders. Each standard includes acceptance criteria that specify what elements must be present in order to be compliant with the standard.

Teams involved in developing standards

General Services Administration (GSA)

GSA’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS) manages standards development and publication through the Federal Website Standards program.

The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act requires federal agencies to be in compliance with the website standards set by TTS.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

OMB advises the Federal Website Standards program and provides concurrence at specific stages of the standards development process. OMB M-23-22 required an updated to federal website standards.

Digital Experience (DX) Council

The DX Council is a cross-functional, cross-agency group that coordinates and supports government-wide efforts to deliver a digital-first public experience. The DX Council is regularly briefed by the Federal Website Standards program and provides recommendations, input, and feedback throughout the standards development process.

Steps in the standards development process

Discover

The Federal Website Standards program maintains a running backlog of potential standards on GitHub and regularly conducts discovery to understand the impact of standardization. For a potential standard to be considered, we must have evidence that it would improve the public’s user experience. After conducting initial discovery, we propose standards for further research, obtain concurrence from OMB, and brief the DX Council.

Research

We publish information on standards being researched on this site. We seek input from stakeholders, inside and outside of government, and conduct usability testing with the public as needed. We continue to validate that the standard would improve the public’s user experience. Once we’ve conducted sufficient research, we begin to draft standards.

Draft

We publish draft standards on this site and seek feedback from OMB, the DX Council, and other stakeholders. Draft standards will likely go through several iterations, each of which will be posted to this site. Once draft standards are ready to be finalized, we obtain concurrence from OMB, and brief the DX Council.

Publish

We publish finalized standards on this site and set a pending time period based on the relative level of effort to comply. Agencies can begin working to comply with pending standards. Once the pending period has concluded, we update the status of standards to “required.”

Revise

For a revision to be considered, we must have evidence that it would improve the public’s user experience or improve the clarity of the standard. Revisions could be prompted by new technologies or changes in user behavior. Any revisions to a published standard will be captured in the documentation for the standard itself. Minor revisions may be made at the discretion of the Federal Website Standard program. Significant revisions will follow the development process described above.

Withdraw

If we find evidence that a standard should be withdrawn, we draft a justification, obtain concurrence from OMB, and brief the DX Council. Withdrawn standards will remain available on this site.