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alphagov
govuk-design-system-backlog
OPEN SOURCE2022–2023
alphagov / govuk-design-system-backlog · Archived

govuk-design-system-backlog

GOV.UK Design System Community Backlog

6Distinct people
9Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
46GitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

GOV.UK Design System Community Backlog

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by month9 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2022-04-01 12:51:35 UTC to 2023-09-23 12:42:29 UTC.

012342022-04-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 0 submissions, 4 commentsApr 20222022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 commentsDec 20222023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-10-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 commentsSep 2023

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
Apr 20222022-04-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC404
May 20222022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jun 20222022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC101
Jul 20222022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 20222022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC101
Sep 20222022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC101
Oct 20222022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Nov 20222022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Dec 20222022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jan 20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Feb 20232023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Mar 20232023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Apr 20232023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC000
May 20232023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jun 20232023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 20232023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 20232023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC101
Sep 20232023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-10-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

9 sources
It depends on the level of contribution. You can contribute by responding to the discussions in the backlog[0], by improving the actual distributed styles and code[1] or suggesting improvements to the documentation in the link I posted above. Bigger changes need to be backed up with user research, evidence of user needs and accessibility reviews and checks. [0] https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-design-system-backlog [1] https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend
In The Design System Ecosystem
There are some situations where date pickers do make sense, like when booking an appointment in the future - being able to see the day is useful. Being able to overlay the date picker with other information like days where you're free or when appointment slots are available makes them unbeatable. But, when asking for a date people know, like their date of birth, date pickers just slow people down and confuse them. User research has shown this repeatedly. https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-design-system-backlog/issu...
In I'm betting on HTML
In respect of handling email addresses provided by customers (note I do not use what I consider has become almost a derogatory term "users") the U.K. Government Digital Service (GDS) guidelines on interface/experience design and implementation patterns is widely seen as the gold standard[3]. Here's what they have to say about accepting email addresses[0] including code examples: When asking users for their email address, you must: make it clear why you’re asking make sure the field works for all of your users help users to enter a valid email address You may also need to check that users have access to the email account they give you. and here [1] is the github issue tracker for discussing email address patterns accepted by government services. In respect of people without both first and last names, I resemble thos
Read the rest
e remarks! I've dealt with broken computer systems since the 1990s that assume first+last (or even first+middle+last !), or set an arbitrary minimum length, and break when meeting me ("Tj") ! Worst cases for this are web services that set arbitrary rules for the name on a credit card (which can be almost anything by the rules and guidelines and should be free-form) - I had this only yesterday with onlyfans.com not accepting my name as it appears on the card because their rules impose first " " last format. The double-abuse of the customer then comes when the first-line support, when told precisely what the problem is, and "please let your web-devs know", gets the response "Use a different card". Turned out that onlyfans.com (or their provider) don't even ensure the name matches when actually doing the authorisation since I put something random in for first-name and it was authorised. I've discussed this in detail with my various bank's technical teams over the years and they've confirmed it usually isn't their side doing a DECLINE; it's the requesting service applying overly-strict arbitrary rules before deciding to make the authorisation request. Again, GDS has recommendations (and consider this is for government services) for accepting names in free-form, not split into fields[2]. and says this: Use single or multiple fields depending on your user’s needs. Not everyone’s name fits the first-name, last-name format. Using multiple name fields mean there’s more risk that a person’s name will not fit the format you’ve chosen and that it is entered incorrectly. In my case in the U.K. the passport office telephoned me once, for my first digital passport in the 1990s, asking rather apologetically if I'd mind them putting X's in the first name since their computer system couldn't cope with it being empty. Whereas the U.K. Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA) has no problem at all and shows my legal name correctly on my driving licence. Two annoying exceptions (not strictly government created/operated) are the internal (local) NHS registration system and some local authority (local council) electoral role (voter registration) systems that do it badly - usually due to having bought in an external 'enterprise' application to handle it, or trying to interface many disparate systems. Generally, over the last 25+ years, I've found government organisations are great at handling these corner cases but random private sector / out-sourced development is worst. Getting traction to get things fixed is the hardest part - being treated as dumb (usually by first-line support and their 'managers') when I set out a clear case and rationale for the bug and how to fix it has to be amongst my least favourite voluntary community-spirited endeavours. The short-cut I apply there, now, is a an email CC-ed to the organisation head (chair, CEO) and senior legal person. There is an up-side to it though - I rarely if ever suffer any kind of spam or phishing and anyone trying identity theft will have to have much more determination than me to overcome all the obstacles :P [0] https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/email-addresse... [1] https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-design-system-backlog/issu... [2] https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/names/ [3] https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/
In Falsehoods programmers believe about email
The fun part is the design system backlog[0]. There is an absolute wealth of information in there, along with plenty of opinions for designers in various departments, feedback from rounds of user research, alternative approaches to common problems. I spend a lot of time in there. This thread on notification banners is an excellent example[1]. I think if this was started today they'd fit into GitHub's discussions better than issues, as that's what they're used for. Eventually, with enough support, these things might make it into the design system. [0] https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-design-system-backlog/issu... [1] https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-design-system-backlog/issu...
In The impact of removing jQuery on our web performance

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