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Mobile
Mobile
OIT Office of Communication
2023-03-31T08:53:21-04:00
Designing VA Websites
In recent years, more individuals access websites through mobile devices and use mobile as their main method for receiving information from a variety of channels.
Recognizing the need to provide mobile-friendly information, VA is using a mobile first approach to content and design.
What exactly is mobile?
Mobile can be divided into three distinct categories:
Website adoption to recognize the importance of mobile
–Content is written to be easily read on a mobile device, implementing a bite-snack-meal approach to present information, where information is presented in small bites to form a snack. Usually, 3-4 lines of text representing the most important information are placed at the top of the page (above the fold of the screen), allowing site visitors to access the most important information quickly without scrolling down. Avoid using PDF documents. Instead, produce PDF contents as a web page. This creates a responsive site allowing visitors to access all content using their preferred language and device.
Responsive Web Design (RWD)
–A web design approach aimed at allowing desktop web pages to automatically resized based on to the screen size or web browser being used (e.g., tablet or smart phone). VA has used
RWD
on its desktop web pages since 2014.
Mobile tactics to reach people via their mobile devices
–Some popular ways to reach individuals through their mobile devices include:
Text (
SMS
), both one-way (receiving text messages) and two-way (text in word to code to receive custom content
Apps on smartphones
Voice: one-way voice (eg. celebrity voice mail) or two-way voice (traditional phone call)
Location-based services, including maps and social applications, such as foursquare, to check-in by location
Photo or video, including barcodes, photo lookup, translation, digital watermarks
VA mobile initiatives
VA
Mobile
aims to improve Veteran health by providing technologies that expand clinical care beyond the traditional office visit.
VA
Mobile
underscores
VA
’s commitment to transform the way care is delivered and to improve health care coordination between Veterans and their care teams.
VA
recognizes mobile health is emerging as an essential health care element and aims to provide the most up-to-date technologies to enhance patient experiences.
VA
Mobile
regularly releases new apps for Veterans.
Trending apps
VA Video Connect
RX Refill
VA Health Chat
Virtual Care Manager
Resources
There are a variety of resources on mobile government initiatives, and VA is involved in many groups that promote usability and mobile government practices.
VA Content Style Guide
MobileGov Community of Practice
–A network of federal employees who work across agencies to create anytime, anywhere government resources and solutions for today and tomorrow.
DigitalGov Mobile
– Any time, any where, any device. Now that’s truly mobile.
Federal CrowdSource Mobile Testing Program
– A no-cost service provided for federal agencies by federal employees.
On this page:
What exactly is mobile?
VA mobile initiatives
Trending apps
Resources
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Date last updated March 31, 2023
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20420
1-800-698-2411
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Ensuring that users have equal access to information and functionality regardless of ability, disability or the type of computer technology used. Creating accessible content is integral to web design philosophy, and accessibility features must be incorporated into all aspects of the design process. See
VA’s Section 508
page for more information.
Accessibility-508 Compliance
Meeting all mandates required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Public Law 93-112, codified as amended at 29 U.S.C. 794d to ensure that all web pages are accessible to disabled persons. See
VA’s Section 508
page for more information.
Alternate Text
Information included in hypertext markup language (HTML) tags to describe graphics a visually impaired person or screen reader can use to help interpret the graphic.
Alternative Formats
Web file formats that are not universally accessible but are available to the public via specific software or plug-ins. These formats include, but are not limited to: PDF, WordPerfect, Microsoft (MS) Word, MS PowerPoint, and statistical data files, such as SAS, SPSS, SQL, and MS Excel. See
VA Viewer Software
Artificial Intelligence
Computer programs used to replace human tasks or decision-making (sometimes including Machine Learning to allow the AI to improve over time either on its own or from user feedback). Some examples are: autocorrect, maps that offer a best route to drive as they analyze traffic, systems serving as virtual assistants (Microsoft’s Cortana, Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, etc.), systems for marketing or advertising to offer a user content they are expected to be interested in due to who or what they “follow” on social media and their previous browser activity, searches, and time spent on content, financial service applications which monitor purchases and send alerts for unusual activity, “bots” used in chats for self-help which appear as if they’re people you are chatting with but are retrieving information from a knowledge base.
Authoritative Source
Official source. An authority is a person or institution having the final say on a particular matter. The authority decides what is right or wrong and others follow suit. While this word may be used to refer to government or supervisory institutions, authority can also be a source of information.
Blog
Discussion or informational website comprised of postings in reverse chronological order. Blogs allow readers to respond and comment on the original content posted. See VA’s official blog (
VA News
).
Branding
Items that help identify a website. Branding can be accomplished by using approved logos and templates. As part of the enterprise-wide Digital Modernization initiative, VA is consolidating and simplifying VA web pages, applications and services into a single, consistent, and unified experience on VA websites. (See
VA.gov design guide
Browser
A software application used for retrieving and presenting information on the web. VA web pages must be “browser neutral” to the maximum extent possible. Browsers provide users the ability to choose the language they would like to view content in for full access to information in their primary language.
Caching
Is a technique that stores a copy of a given resource and serves it back when requested. When a web cache has a requested resource in its store, it intercepts the request and returns a copy of the stored resource instead of re-downloading the resource from the originating server, which speeds up opening the page.
Cascading Style Sheets
A style sheet language used for describing web page presentation (look and formatting). CSS defines how different elements, such as headers, links, and text will appear such as defining fonts, colors, and paragraph spacing.
Cloud Services
Network of servers that provide remote data storage or processing services via the internet, which are owned and maintained internally or externally. (see also Infrastructure as a Service, Low-Code No-Code, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service)
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