Coming Soon: New Improvements to CLF4

Here at the GIC we’ve been hard at work building new, fully accessible state agency websites on our new Lighthouse design system. But in the meantime, we are also working toward remediating any lingering issues that remain for our CLF4 partners.

Previous updates include a switch to the State of Delaware teal blue heading background color to the current True Blue. (Hex: #245194)

In this round of work, we’re focusing on a lot of little strategic accessibility enhancements that will make a big difference. We’re also revisiting the Delaware State Header once again.

Here’s a comparison of the current (old) header, and the revised version that will be coming soon to a CLF4 site near you:

You’ll notice some cosmetic changes right off the bat, like the removal of the cursive “D” logo that is being phased out statewide due to its lack of visual accessibility. You’ll also notice the addition of a clear search field window.

But there are other changes under the hood as well! Here’s a rundown:

Overall accessibility improvements

The site is easier to use for everyone, including people using assistive technology or alternative input methods.

Clearer skip link behavior:

Removed the “skip to navigation” link because it sent users to hidden footer content, which could confuse or disrupt users.

Removed sticky header:

The Delaware header no longer stays fixed at the top, reducing distraction and making navigation smoother for keyboard and screen reader users.

Improved screen reader and keyboard support:

Header and navigation are properly marked with landmarks and labels, helping users scan the page, jump quickly to navigation or search, and move through content without a mouse. Keyboard navigation will be enabled for drop down menus.

Simplified search experience:

The search field and button are easier to identify, with animations removed, fewer clicks required, and only a single button needed to perform a search.

Cleaner, more consistent design:

Old branding elements were removed, and navigation link names were updated to match Delaware.gov, making the header clear and easier to understand.

If you have a WordPress website with us, the CLF4 enhancements will automatically be added for you. If you are pulling CLF4 code into your own builds, we will be rolling out the HTML code updates over the next couple of weeks. Our first sites will go live with the updates next week, and from there the current plan is to roll them out to all of the rest of the sites by the second or third week of February!

We will continue making improvements to all of our code– Stay tuned!