Accessibility guidelines

Users with a visual, motor or cognitive impairment are far from rare.

Browser support

We focus support on major browsers in use by 95%+ of our audiences, and we ensure the site is navigable and usable by the remaining 5%.

Component creation

The when and how of component modification

Component types

We use a variation of the atomic design methodology: elements, blocks, and containers.

Components are part of patterns

Think of components as lego blocks you can use to build the look and content of your sites. Think of patterns as assembled packages of behaviour.

Components: deprecating

Inevitably code will be replaced and improved, leaving components stale and or outdated.

Components: versioning interoperability

Each Visual Framework component carries its own semantic versioning.

Content guidelines

Unique to the web are certain types of content that support user interaction.

Discussions, exchanges and help

Regardless of where, we welcome contribution, ideas and constructive criticism.

Image handling best practice

It's best to not let CSS do the image cropping.

JavaScript and Visual Framework components

We use "just enough" JavaScript in the Visual Framework.

JavaScript: mitigating broken experiences

If JavaScript fails, some tips on how you can ensure users can still complete their task.

Sass and CSS guidelines

The Visual Framework delivers much of its value through Sass.

User base of the Visual Framework code

This project is designed to be used by organisations with experienced developers delivery life science websites.

Using British and American english in code and documentation

For the language and spelling of documentation and code.