WhiteHouse.gov, the official online resource for presidential initiatives and actions, was promptly updated following the inauguration of President Biden. A stylish dark mode was introduced, alongside a larger text option to enhance readability, and the web development team has dedicated itself to ensuring the entire site adheres to current accessibility standards.

The website’s overall appearance shares similarities with its predecessor – both offer a contemporary and streamlined user experience, featuring prominent imagery and well-organized lists of priorities and announcements within each section.

A significant design enhancement implemented by the new administration is the addition of a dark mode, or high contrast mode, and a large text toggle, features that many users will find beneficial.

While dark modes have been available for some time, they gained widespread popularity after Apple integrated system-wide versions into iOS and macOS. They often reduce eye strain and, importantly, provide users with greater control over their viewing preferences.

The WhiteHouse.gov dark mode alters the heading text from a patriotic blue to a more comfortable off-white, with links displayed in a soothing Dijon color. Even the White House logo transitions from a dark blue background to a solid black design with a white border. The changes are executed with subtlety, and the effect could be considered a lower-contrast mode rather than a high-contrast one.

The large text mode functions as expected, increasing the size of all elements for improved visibility and ease of interaction. The toggle controls are somewhat noticeable in their placement, but adjustments are likely to be made in the near future.

A Spanish-language option has also been incorporated, which will be greatly appreciated by the millions of Americans for whom Spanish is their primary language. This feature was not available on the previous White House/Casa Blanca website.

Looking ahead, the accessibility section includes a commitment:

The WCAG guidelines represent a collection of recommended practices for website design, aimed at ensuring content is readily accessible to individuals who utilize screen readers, require captions for audio, or experience difficulty using a mouse or touchscreen. While implementing these guidelines isn’t overly complex, it’s generally more efficient to design for accessibility from the outset rather than attempting to retrofit an existing website. Government websites are mandated to be accessible, though the degree of compliance varies.

I observed that many of the images on the White House website include alt text or accompanying captions – these features assist visually impaired visitors in understanding the content of images. Here’s an illustration:

Typically, this alt text would be read aloud by a screen reader when it encounters the image, but it is not usually displayed visually.

Unless the metadata was removed from the previous administration’s site (it is archived here), the images I examined lacked these text descriptions, making this a substantial improvement. However, some images, such as the prominent header image on the homepage, currently lack descriptions, an oversight that should be addressed.

Further accessibility enhancements will include the timely provision of plain text versions of official documents and announcements (rather than relying solely on PDFs or other file formats), captions for official videos and other media, and numerous other refinements designed to improve the experience for all visitors.

While seemingly minor, these changes can accumulate and have a significant impact, particularly in the context of the broader changes anticipated with the new administration.

As Isaac Hepworth of Microsoft pointed out, considerable work remains to be done, and the U.S. Digital Services team has included a message within the website’s source code:

If you are interested in contributing to these efforts, you can sign up here.