Q: My co-worker asks: "Why are they using "Content timeliness indicator" (9 syllables) instead of "date stamp," (2 syllables)?

A: This relates to a draft standard documented on the federal website standards website. The question is one for the Federal Website Standards team, who we'll hear from in next month's call. But it could be to reflect the terminology in M-23-22: "Indicate timeliness of content" (under point 4 in that section).

Q: Are you considering moving to TypeScript in the USWDS codebase?

A: We’re sticking with JavaScript. If we were going to use TypeScript,we’d use that on the authoring side, which would make it a dependency that we would then impose on downstream teams. We typically want to have a pretty light touch with dependencies like that, and moving to TypeScript is a choice. Never say never, but, it’d have to be a pretty big decision for us to move towards requiring TypeScript.

Q: So excited about USWDS Tokens! Out of curiosity, are there any plans for wiring them into the new Figma kit?

A: We include USWDS tokens in the new design kit. However, this was a manual process and not a persistent dynamic connection between USWDS token data and Figma. We'd like it to be less manual! There are some plug-ins that can help with moving token data between different applications, which provides a big opportunity for making that process simpler. That could keep USWDS's product consistent wherever and however you use it, whether that’s design software, code, or somewhere else. The more that we can do to create a single source of truth, the better. We would love to be able to make that happen in design software.

Q: Is there a timeline when you'll have all existing USWDS components converted to USWDS Elements?

A: We just can't say yet. There's too much that we currently don't know about the landscape of web components and what we hope to deliver with USWDS Elements to know when we’ll be able to tell you. It’s also dependent on how fast we’ll be able to launch with everything in USWDS Elements. We want to make sure that as we launch these products, we are doing it intentionally, and we are doing it in a way that allows each product to evolve and find its niche. We could have some tough support issues if we spread ourselves too thin at launch. So, it's hard to say. Getting into a full complement of USWDS components as Elements is something that will take at least more than a year.

Q: Are you publishing your upcoming plans or will you be communicating this primarily through calls?

A: Great question. We don't want the monthly call to be the only way you can get this information. We do already have our newsletter, which is one place you’ll hear about that, and the discussions that are going on in GitHub. We’re also planning a news area on the website to gather everything that's new into one spot. We’ll be publishing more regular updates there.

Q: With tokens will it still be easy to make sweeping theme changes? Like primary blue to green?

A: Yes! Pairing tokens with our system settings will be an easy way to make theme changes across your project.

Q: Will Elements v1 be available before Core 4.0?

A: Beta versions of individual Elements components will be available before the release of USWDS Core 4.0. We'll release version 1.0 of Elements alongside Core 4.0.

Q: Is USWDS 3.10.0 the last version before it becomes Core 4.0?

A: No, we expect USWDS 3 to get monthly releases for at least a couple more months before we really focus on the transition to Core 4.0. There will be a period over the next six months or so where 3.0 will be in code freeze. Currently we're planning our February 2025 release to be the last release before a code freeze. We'll then have a few months of pause before we restart again from Core 4.0.