Release Notes
The shared package is released as a whole. A release is numbered, dated and accompanied by a note recording what changed and which components are affected. Every site of the Velocity Interoperability Network is built from the current release; there is no version of the system that belongs to one site alone.
The register below records the releases to date. The system was assembled in the hours around the establishment of the Network, and its first releases fall on a single day; the interval between releases will lengthen as the system settles. Numbers below one signify that the system is still gaining components at a rapid rate. A first stable release will be declared when the set of components has been unchanged through a full cycle of site reviews.
| Release | Date | Changes | Components affected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1.0 | 6 September 2026 | The shell: government banner, masthead with the text wordmark, utility row, footer, skip link. The standard page and the four standard pages every site carries. | SiteShell, SiteHeader, SiteFooter, GovBanner, Wordmark, SkipLink, StandardPage, standard pages |
| 0.2.0 | 6 September 2026 | Foundations: the nineteen named colour tokens with the Network navy as default, the two typefaces loaded once, the site width. Sites override the brand scale and accent in their own stylesheet. | Shared stylesheet, fonts |
| 0.3.0 | 6 September 2026 | The newsroom: press release index and article, the featured story for department home pages with split and stacked layouts, and the compact newsroom teaser. | PressReleaseList, PressReleaseArticle, FeaturedStory, NewsroomTeaser |
| 0.4.0 | 6 September 2026 | Forms: field, text input, select, textarea, button and notice, and the application form that shows a confirmation and sends nothing. | Field, TextInput, Select, Textarea, Button, Notice, ApplicationForm |
| 0.5.0 | 6 September 2026 | Content components and motion: definition list, steps, timeline, key figures, accordion, data table, image grid, image band and page hero; navigation submenus; reveal and collapse transitions that honour reduced motion. | ItemList, Steps, Timeline, Figures, Accordion, DataTable, ImageGrid, ImageBand, PageHero, NavBar, Reveal, Collapse |
| 0.6.0 | 6 September 2026 | Footer links grouped under two headings, departments and network services; the network list extended to the seventy sites of the Network, twenty-five departments and forty-five services. | SiteFooter, network list |
Taking a release. A site does not choose whether to take a release. It is rebuilt against the current package, checked and published. The steps are the same for every site.
Step 1: Read the release note
Each release lists the components it changes. Identify the pages of the site that use them.
Step 2: Rebuild the site
A site takes a release by building against the current shared package. No site pins an earlier release; every site of the Network is on the same release at any time.
Step 3: Run the checks
Run the type check and lint. A release that renames a property or removes a component is reported here, with the pages that must be revised.
Step 4: Review the affected pages
View each page that uses a changed component at the three breakpoints and with reduced motion enabled, following the review procedure under Standards for Sites.
Step 5: Publish
The rebuilt site is published on its domain. Releases reach every site in this way; there is no separate step for a site to accept or decline one.
Proposing a change. Anyone building a site of the Network may propose a change to the system. Proposals are made by email to the design team and are considered in the order received. A proposal should contain the four elements below; one that does not is returned with a request for the missing element rather than declined.
- The need
- What content or task the current components do not serve, described in terms of the reader rather than the implementation.
- The sites affected
- Which sites have the need now. A change is made to the shared package when two or more sites would use it; a need on one site alone is usually met by an existing pattern.
- The proposed change
- A new component, a new property on an existing component, a new pattern or a change to a token, with an example of the content it would carry.
- Compatibility
- Whether existing pages would render differently after the change, and if so how they would be revised.
Accepted proposals are made once, in the shared package, and reach every site with the next release. Declined proposals are recorded with the reason, so that the same question need not be raised twice. The register of proposals is kept below and updated as decisions are made.
| Reference | Received | Proposal | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| DS-001 | 6 September 2026 | Pagination for newsrooms and registers that exceed twenty items. | Accepted for a forthcoming release |
| DS-002 | 6 September 2026 | A document list showing title, date, format and size for published papers. | Accepted for a forthcoming release |
| DS-003 | 6 September 2026 | A second photograph in the image band, side by side with the first. | Declined: the band carries one photograph so that the prose keeps its width |
| DS-004 | 6 September 2026 | Numeric alignment in data tables for columns of figures. | Under review |
| DS-005 | 6 September 2026 | A site-level notice band above the masthead for service interruptions. | Under review |
| DS-006 | 6 September 2026 | Permission for a site to load a third typeface for a specialist purpose. | Declined: the two typefaces are common to every site |
For the events that led to the first releases, see History; for a description of each component named above, see Components; for the setting up of a site against the current release, see Adopting the System. Proposals and questions may be sent to contact@design.gov.vin.