GOV.UK DXP Components
Aleks Bochniak
I've been building a proof of concept GOV.UK Service website and have used Squiz's prebuilt GOV.UK DXP components. As I have been doing this, I've noticed some differences with the GOV.UK Design System and the ones available as pre-built components.
What is Squiz's roadmap for these components? Are there any plans to update or develop more in line with the documented GOV.UK Frontend Design System? What options are there for me to be able to extend or contribute towards the existing DXP component set?
Aleks Bochniak
Hi Rafal - not sure what change I am expecting to see - but there still isn't a source <> button in the mini wysiwyg. Screenshot attached. Please note, my issue is with using components in Standard Pages (not Content Pages)
Rafał Szarafiński
Hi Aleks Bochniak,
I've released a new version of the GOV.UK components. Please check if the new components meet your expectations. Regarding the fix, to protect against XSS attacks, we use XSS library to verify the entered HTML code. Unfortunately, it also natively extracts all attributes (including class) from secure HTML elements. I had to add options to exclude attributes like class, id, and aria.
Aleks Bochniak
Rafał Szarafiński Seems I lost your last msg? I think you can replicate the issue on your end by using a component which has a field of type FormattedText in the contents of a Standard Page asset and you will see hte mini wysiwyg doesn't have a source view button
Rafał Szarafiński
Aleks Bochniak , thanks. Yes, I did replicate this and working on that to fix it. I'll let you know when we release a new version of components.
Aleks Bochniak
Rafał Szarafiński Sounds good. I would appreciate to know what the fix it, so that I can implement it on my end - as I have other components from other component sets that have this same issue.
Rafał Szarafiński
Thank you so much for the feedback. And for trying the prebuilt GOV.UK DXP components. We’d really value any specifics you can share about the differences you’re seeing. If you can point to particular components, behaviours, or HTML structure that diverge from the GOV.UK Design System, that would help us prioritize.
Roadmap and alignment with GOV.UK:
We designed these components to work with an external, evolving design system. Our goal is to align with GOV.UK Frontend’s HTML and behaviour so that, with the right styles and scripts, components work as expected. We do plan updates to follow GOV.UK changes; however, with our recent scope shift, we now schedule these through our roadmap. To assess and plan any changes, we’ll need a clear scope so we can estimate and schedule them properly.
Options to extend or contribute:
You can extend the component set directly. There’s a repository ready to download, so your team can customize and add components as needed. We also welcome contributions: feel free to open a Merge Request. Our team will review for compatibility, accessibility, and correct operation within our repository. We’re happy to provide guidance upfront if that helps.
Suggested next steps:
If you can share the specific gaps or desired updates (with examples or screenshots if possible), plus any priorities or timelines, we can recommend a path — whether quick fixes, incremental enhancements, or broader updates.
Thanks again for the thoughtful input. We’re keen to make this work well for your service and the wider community.
Aleks Bochniak
I think the main feedback I have at this stage comes in two parts:
- Using the existing components available. For something like Panels, Accordions, Tabs, it would be good to have more flexibility with component content, so that source view is editable within the 'wysiwyg' interface or custom code as an option. I found that using tables within tab content quite difficult as there aren't controls for that - this was experienced trying to the tab example on the design system website.
Example
vs
- Warning and In-page alert appear to be very similar
vs
Are you able to share access to the git repo for these components, so that I can go and compare how I've built my 'gov uk masthead' component vs your approach?
Aleks Bochniak
Rafał Szarafiński What do you think?
Rafał Szarafiński
Hey Aleks Bochniak . Yes, tour feedback make sense, and I can see benefits adding a WYSIWYG field in these components.
Unfortunately, I cannot share with you a git repo as this was not in line with our security policy.
I will chat with our product manager about where we can put it in our roadmap.
Rafał Szarafiński
Aleks Bochniak Before we begin working on that, could you please verify that you have access to the source editor within WYSIWYG editor in your Matrix instance? See the attached screenshots.
Aleks Bochniak
Rafał Szarafiński Yes I do for normal wysiwyg content divs and components (FormattedText) on Content page assets, but not Standard page assets