What's new for content

We have a list of all updates dating back to May 2025 in GitHub.

Learn more on the Style guide and Design System updates page

August 2026

Content style guide

Links

• Revised consideration about putting links on their own line to add “generally”:

  We generally put links on their own line to help make the page easier to scan and the intention of the link as clear as possible. Too many embedded links can be distracting or overwhelming to people with traumatic brain injuries or other cognitive impairments.

• Added information on how to structure link text for links that go to a site outside of VA.gov:

  If the link takes the reader outside of VA.gov, name the external website in the link text. Put the action first (“Learn more about vaccines”) then the destination (“on the CDC website”) to lead with the value to the Veteran. We prefer to include the location in the main link text instead of in parentheses, like “Learn more about vaccines on the CDC website” and not “Learn more about vaccines (CDC website).”

  Use a link label that tells the reader where the link takes them. We prefer including the location in the main link text instead of in parentheses since it’s clearer for screen readers and translated text. For example, “Play the YouTube video on creating an account” and not “Play the video on creating an account (YouTube).” But it’s okay to use parentheses if needed because of space constraints or to make the link text clearer.

• Replaced “abilities” with “ways of interacting with the information”:

  Avoid using words that assume certain ways of interacting with the information, like “See,” “Hear,” and “Watch.”

• Updated guidance on links opening in a new tab to align with previous guidance. Links should only open in a new tab if the person will lose progress or unsaved data, regardless of the link’s destination:

  Note: Links should open in the same tab, unless they meet the specific criteria for opening in a new tab. If a link needs to open in a new tab, add “(opens in a new tab)” to notify the person. Don’t use the new window icon unless there are space constraints.

  Review guidance on when to open links in a new tab in the Components section

• Added information on anchor and jump links:

  We sometimes use an anchor or jump link when we need to link to a section within a VA.gov page. Anchor or jump links can be helpful in certain cases, like when we want to direct someone to a specific section on a long page. But if the heading of the section we’re linking to ever changes, the anchor or jump link won’t work and will redirect to the top of the page. Use anchor and jump links with caution.

• Added information on how to structure link text for online forms:

  Link text for forms

  • Links to the form Detail page follow this format: Get VA Form XX-XXXX to download.
  • Links to the online tool should include a verb and the purpose of the form. For example: Apply for healthcare benefits.
    Note: If it will make the purpose of the link clearer, include “online” in the link text (“Apply for healthcare benefits online”). But if including “online” will be too repetitive or if a form only has an online version (no PDF option), you don’t need to include “online.”

• Updated all mentions of “form’s About page” to “form Detail page”
• Made edits throughout to align with the style guide

Components

Link

• Updated guidance on links opening in a new tab to align with previous guidance:

  • Open all links in the same tab, with one exception. Only open links in a new tab if selecting the link would cause the person to lose progress or unsaved data. In all other cases, links should open in the same tab.
  • Always notify the person when opening in a new tab. Add “(opens in a new tab)” text to the link and use the external link variation. Don’t use the new tab icon unless there are space constraints.
    Note: The external link variation applies to links that open in a new tab, not links that take people to a site outside of VA.gov.

  • Links to a non-VA.gov site must indicate where they go. Follow the methods detailed in linking to external sites.
  • Links that open in a new tab must indicate that. By default, the link component’s external link variation will add “(opens in a new tab)” to the link text instead of using an icon. This follows Techniques for WCAG 2.0 advice on providing people with both a spoken and visual warning that this link opens in a new tab.

• Made edits throughout to align with the style guide

July 2026

No updates

June 2026

Content style guide

Bold and italic text

Revised the guidance on label and value pairs:

Label and value pairs

• For label and value pairs where we’re asking the person to review and verify information, such as in a Card component, we usually bold the text that’s most important. For example, if we’re asking the person to review their contact information (like email address or phone number), bold the information they need to review instead of the label.
  Example: Phone number: 555-555-5555
  
• For label and value pairs where we’re only presenting information, such as the address or hours of operation for a location, we usually bold the label instead of the value. The label and value can either be separated by a line break or a colon, depending on the content. Review examples on the H. John Heinz III Department of VA Medical Center page

Note: Designers can use their discretion with which text to bold in label and value pairs. If you have questions about what text to bold, contact the Design System team or the centralized content and information architecture (IA) team.

Bulleted and numbered lists

• Moved guidance on sentences with 3 or more ideas and no 1-item lists to the new General guidelines section. And added information on 2-item lists:

  General guidelines

  • If a sentence contains more than 3 items or ideas, we recommend breaking the sentence up into a list.
  • A list can have just 2 items in some cases. For example, lists of 2 eligibility requirements or options or a 2-step process.
  • A numbered or bulleted list can’t be only 1 item.

• Added guidance on capitalization:

  • Use sentence case. Capitalize the first word in each list item, even if the item isn’t a full sentence.

• Made minor edits throughout for consistency and to align with the style guide

Error and alert messages (including System, Engagement, Access, and Feedback)

• Added guidance on slim alert length to the Error and alert messages section (this guidance was already documented in the Alert component section):

  Slim alert length

  Keep slim alerts to 100 characters (with spaces) when possible. If you have a slim alert that’s longer than 100 characters, contact the VA.gov content and IA team. The team will work with you to edit the alert or determine if we need to make an exception (up to 150 characters).

• Added alert length considerations to the System, Engagement, Access, and Feedback sections:

  Alert length considerations

  • When possible, keep error and alert message titles (headings) to 50 characters, including spaces. Error and alert message titles should follow the general guidelines for page and section titles.
  • Keep slim alerts to 100 characters (with spaces) when possible. If you have a slim alert that’s longer than 100 characters, contact the VA.gov content and IA team. The team will work with you to edit the alert or determine if we need to make an exception (up to 150 characters).

Links

Added guidance in the Linking to forms subsection on including a link to the online version (online tool) of a form:

For forms that have an online version (online tool), also add a link to the online tool using the Primary or Secondary action link variation. Include the online tool link before the link to the form’s About page.

Note: On the form’s Introduction page, use the Primary Entry action link variation to start the form.
Learn more in the Link - Action component section

Numbers, signs, and symbols

• Added guidance on fractions:

  Fractions

  Avoid using fractions since this can cause issues for people using screen readers. Instead, use percentages. If the content only has “full time” and “half time,” you can use the word “half” instead of “50%.” But don’t mix fractions and “half.”

• Revised the guidance on length of time to account for other units, and added examples for months and years:

  Length of time

  When writing out a length of time, you can use a combination of units to make the content easy to understand. For example, XX hours and XX minutes. Only use decimals, like 3.5 hours, in a table with limited space.

  Like this

  6 months to 1 year

  2 years and 6 months

  Not this

  6 to 12 months

  2 and a half years

• Added guidance on measurements:

  Measurements

  Add a space between the number and the unit of measure.

• Added guidance on negative numbers:

  Negative numbers

  Use “-” in front of any negative number, including negative numbers in a table. This is the most accessible option for people using screen readers.

Page titles and section titles

• Added guidance on punctuation in page titles and section titles:

  • Page titles don’t get ending punctuation (like a period or a colon). But titles can have a question mark, if appropriate.

  • Section titles don’t get ending punctuation (like a period or a colon). But titles can have a question mark, if appropriate.

• Made minor edits throughout for consistency and to align with the style guide

Punctuation and formatting

• Updated the guidance on hyphens to include negative numbers:

  Hyphens

  Hyphens are a short, single dash. We use hyphens in names, to connect words that modify a noun, and to show negative numbers. Hyphens are also OK to indicate ranges when space is limited. But in normal body copy, use “to” or “through” to indicate ranges (like 2021 to 2022). We don’t add a space on either side of the hyphen.

• Added guidance on page and section titles:

  Page titles and section titles punctuation

  Page titles and section titles (all heading levels) don’t get ending punctuation (like a period or a colon). But titles can have a question mark, if appropriate.

• Made minor edits throughout for consistency and to align with the style guide

Word list

Added 2 new entries:

elderly

Avoid using “elderly.” Instead, use “age 65 and older.”

Like this: Veterans age 65 and older.

non-VA or private

We default to using “non-VA” to refer to any medical providers, facilities, or records that aren’t part of the VA system. If you need to use “private,” we recommend introducing the term on first mention, like “a non-VA facility (sometimes called a private facility).” We avoid using “private” without the additional “non-VA” context because people could confuse the term with a “private practice” or “private” meaning personal or confidential.

May 2026

Content style guide

Bold and italic text

• Updated the section title to replace the “&” with “and”
• Updated the guidance on when to bold:

  • Health care portal options, when we need to reference both My HealtheVet on VA.gov and My VA Health in the same context. Review examples on the My HealtheVet on VA.gov: What to know page

  • The design element, button, screen, and page or section title we want the Veteran to select or go to when we’re giving directions. For example, “In the File menu, select Save.” Review another example on the Verifying your identity page

  • The error messages that appear when a person doesn’t complete a required form field correctly.

• Made style guide edits throughout

Bulleted and numbered lists

• Added a new consideration for ordering bulleted lists:

  Most to least popular or common

  We order some lists based on how popular or common each item in the list is. This approach works most often for radio button or checkbox options in an interactive form. For example, if you know more people select a certain response for a question, you can put that response at the top of the list.

  Note: Base the order of popularity on data from past responses or research.

• Added “or chronological” to the “numerical” ordering consideration
• Specified in the alphabetical ordering consideration that this order is for lists that don’t have another natural order
• Added a new subsection on breaking up long lists:

  Breaking up long lists

  If you have a long list (typically a list with more than 7 items), consider breaking up the list into multiple smaller lists with subheads. This helps keep lists easy to understand. You can break up the list in different ways, depending on the content.

  Consider breaking up long lists in these ways:

  • Item type
  • Physical location
  • Numerical or chronological
  • Alphabetical

  Examples

  Item type

  You can break up a long list by keeping similar items together in their own smaller lists.

  Physical location

  If you have a long list of different locations, you can break up the list by state or country.

  Numerical or chronological

  You can break up some lists numerically or chronologically in a variety of ways, including by month, year (or range of years), era, length of time, age, or percentage level of disability.

  Alphabetical

  Some lists may make sense to break up by letter, or range of letters. For example, a list of medications or locations that wouldn’t make sense grouped by state or country.

Use conversational language

Added guidance on not using unclear pronouns:

Don’t use unclear pronouns like “it,” “this,” or “that” on their own. Using these terms without context can be confusing. And unclear pronouns can cause problems with translated content.

Title tags

• Removed guidance on character limits and us truncating title tags (search engines may still truncate title tags, but we don’t manually truncate title tags)
• Revised the introduction to the Additional guidance subsection:

  For VA medical center (VAMC) websites and forms and subtasks, we need to include additional information in the title tag for clarity and accessibility. The title tag format is different for these pages.

• Clarified the guidance for VA medical center (VAMC) websites:

  Because many Veterans search for VA hospitals by city or region, it’s important to include the region to distinguish the VAMC page from the national content on VA.gov.

• Revised the guidance for forms and multi-page subtasks:

  Some form components, like the Income limits tool and forms using the Form step - minimal template, use the question for the H1. This may be helpful for people as they fill out the form, but it’s less useful as the title tag on its own. If someone has multiple forms open, we want them to easily be able to tell the forms apart with clear title tags.

  Each page in the flow should have the H1 and form number in the title tag.

  Format: H1 Page Title | VA Form Number | Veterans Affairs

• Fixed the capitalization in the example in the Privacy guidance subsection
• Made style guide edits throughout

Templates

Form step

• Aligned hint text subsection with current guidance:

  Add hint text under a field label if it would help someone choose the right response, like “We’ll use your email address to confirm when we receive your form.” Knowing how we’ll use their email may help the person choose which email to enter. Or use hint text to help someone answer a question more easily, like “Select a month. Enter 1 or 2 digits for the day and 4 digits for the year.” Hint text should have an ending period if it’s a full sentence.

• Made style guide edits throughout

Form step-minimal

• Clarified guidance on H1s:

  The H1 on each page of the form should either describe the information needed (like Your name and date of birth) or ask the specific question for that page (like What’s your relationship to the Veteran?).

  All new forms should use this template. The templates in Figma and in code provide good starting points for new form development. Your forms will have a unique H1 for each page and will be more accessible for people.

  The step label should be unique from the H1 on each page. The step label describes the general type of information you’re collecting (like Your personal information) and the page header (H1) will be specific (like Your name and date of birth).

  H1 page headers can be questions or statements.

  Each page in a form that gathers information must have an H1 page header that tells the person what kind of information we’re asking for on that page. Each H1 must be unique from the other question pages and from the step label. The H1 on each page of the form should either describe the information needed (like Your name and date of birth) or ask the specific question for that page (like What’s your relationship to the Veteran?).

  Keep hint text brief, without any line breaks if possible. If you need to give a long, detailed explanation, consider using a Details component or an accordion instead. Screen readers will read the entire hint text aloud when people interact with the form field. This could frustrate people if the text is long.

• Made style guide edits throughout

IA

Reorganization

Reorganized the section:

Overview

IA Standards

• Redirects
• Search Recommendations
• URL Standards
• Vanity URLs

Organization

• Site Organization
• Domain Structure

VA Health and Benefits app

Search Recommendations (new section)

This new section explains how to request the setup of or changes to search recommendations (or best bets) for a VA.gov page. The page also had general information on what search recommendations are, when and how to use recommendations, and keyword considerations.

April 2026

Content style guide

Page titles and section titles

• Fixed the formatting of the intro text so the last sentence isn’t below the table of contents
• Added a crosslink to the Title tags section

  Title tags

  Title tags use the H1 as part of the tag. The Title tag section has specific information on what to use for the title tag and how to format it, depending on the context.

  Learn more in the Title tag section

• Made minor edits throughout to align with the style guide

March 2026

Content style guide

Bulleted and numbered lists

Added guidance on what to consider when ordering bulleted lists:

Bulleted lists generally don’t need to be in a specific order. But in some cases, you may want to consider ordering the list based on the type of list items.

Grouping like items

Some lists may include sets of similar items. For example, a list of documents may include some documents related to education, some for personal information, and some for financial information. In this case, group each set of similar items together in the list.

Order of importance or level of urgency

In some lists, certain items may be more important or urgent than others. In this case, order the list with the most important or urgent item first. Consider a numbered list if appropriate for the content.

Numerical

In lists of dates, dollar values, percentages, or other numerical values, it may make sense to order the list from either high to low or low to high.

Alphabetical

Use alphabetical order for lists of certain items, like medications or specific locations, that don’t have another natural order. But don’t default to alphabetical order for all lists.

Punctuation and formatting

Added guidance on parentheses:

When to use parentheses

• For short examples within a sentence
• To set off brief additional information (an aside) that helps readers understand the sentence, the context, or a specific word or phrase
• To introduce an acronym or abbreviation
• To add a VA form number after the form title

When not to use parentheses

Consider making the parenthetical a separate sentence in these cases:

• If the parenthetical is a full sentence on its own
• If the parenthetical is long or makes the sentence harder to understand

Plurals

Don’t use “(s),” “(es),” or “(ies)” at the end of a word to show a possible plural. Screen readers don’t announce the parenthetical in a way that people can easily understand. Instead, use the plural version of the word. You can also reword the sentence to use “any” before the plural to mean 1 or multiple.

Payments and debts

Updated the definition for balance:

balance

Use “balance” when you refer to the total amount owed for copay bills or overpayment debt.

Like this: Pay your full balance or request help by the due date on your collection letter or billing statement.

Readability and usability of VA digital content

Added this new page to the style guide. This page explains our approach to ensuring digital content is easy to find, understand, and use. And it explains our approach to readability scores.

Sign in and identity verification

• Added information on ID.me to the first Considerations bullet:

  ID.me provides more flexibility for identity verification for Veterans in certain situations, such as living outside the U.S.

• Updated the identity verification and verify your identity definition to specify that ID.me and Login.gov are accounts. And added information to the note about using “confirm” or “confirmation” when asking someone to check information they provided on a form (like a mailing or email address).

Word list

Updated these entries:

• verify and verification: Specified that ID.me and Login.gov are accounts
• Veterans Service Organization (VSO): Fixed typo

Added these new entries:

balance

Use “balance” when you refer to the total amount owed for copay bills or overpayment debt.

Like this: Pay your full balance or request help by the due date on your collection letter or billing statement.

community care

Lowercase.

confirm or confirmation

Use “confirm” or “confirmation” when asking a person to check the information they provided on a form or application, like an email address or mailing address. Avoid using the terms “verify” or “verification” in this context. We only use the terms “verify” and “verification” to describe the initial, one-time process of verifying your identity with an ID.me or Login.gov account.

discharge status (character of discharge)

The discharge statuses are honorable, general, medical, other than honorable, bad conduct, dishonorable, officer, and entry-level separation. If you’re grouping multiple statuses together, list each status.

• Like this: You may qualify for these benefits if you have an honorable, general, or medical discharge.
• Like this: You may qualify for these benefits if you have an honorable, general, or medical discharge. If you have a different discharge type, you may still qualify for some benefits.
• Like this: If you have an other than honorable or bad conduct discharge, you may still qualify for some benefits.

MOVE! Weight Management Program for Veterans

MOVE! is all capital letters, with an exclamation point at the end. There’s no space between the “E” and the exclamation point. MOVE! isn’t an acronym. After the first mention of the full formal program name, we can use “MOVE!” for all other mentions.

Components

Alert

• Added guidance on slim alert length:

  Keep slim alerts to 100 characters (with spaces) when possible. If you have a slim alert that’s longer than 100 characters, contact the VA.gov content and IA team. The team will work with you to edit the alert or determine if we need to make an exception (up to 150 characters).

• Made edits to the Content considerations to align with the style guide.

IA

VA website organization

This new section explains how and why we organize content on the main VA.gov website and key subdomains.