Building Your Own Lighthouse Site

Advice for Agencies and Third-Party Vendors

If you are a state agency, partner, or third-party vendor tasked with building or updating a Delaware state website, the Lighthouse Design System is here to make your project easier, faster, and more accessible.

The Government Information Center (GIC) is also here to help, through free consultation and pre-launch site reviews. Our goals are to ensure a smooth rollout and help agencies remain fully aligned with the state’s common look and feel.

Before you get started, please consider our best advice for approaching your Lighthouse project:

1. Start with the Storybook Documentation

There you will find:

• Plug-and-Play Code: Our Storybook documentation provides direct code snippets and reusable components designed to plug and play seamlessly into your project.
• Tested & Reliable Components: Components in Lighthouse are pre-tested for performance and standards. Relying on what’s already built will save your team significant time.
• Useful Guidance: We encourage teams to read through the specific usage recommendations for each component. This will avoid common implementation missteps and keep your site compliant with guidelines for both accessibility and also the state’s visual look and feel.

2. Use Lighthouse to Guide Your Site’s Design

Rather than creating a pre-planned custom design and trying to force Lighthouse into it, approach your project with Lighthouse as your starting design foundation.

• Avoid Unnecessary Overrides: Whenever possible, avoid overriding core design system code. Use provided components and add your specific content and functionality.
• Focus on Content: Organized and relevant content is often far more effective than complex visual features. Sometimes simple, well-structured headers and paragraph text work better than an over-engineered layout design.

3. Reach Out Early and Often

We are here to support you throughout your build! You don’t have to navigate adoption alone. Whether you need guidance on best practices, tips and tricks, or an extra pair of eyes to review a layout, the GIC is happy to offer no-cost consultation on your efforts. Reach out through our contact page any time.

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Ideal Lighthouse Implementation Process

1. Pre-Request & Planning
   Review the guidelines at our Storybook site, outline your required site content, and identify the core components needed.
2. Site Construction
   Use pre-built Lighthouse components without overriding code to alter the styles. Prioritize clear content hierarchy over complex features.
3. Review & Post-Migration
   Reach out to the GIC team via our contact form for a review, tips, and feedback to ensure compliance with Delaware’s visual standards.
4. Ongoing Maintenance
   Stay up to date with future Lighthouse releases and version updates to keep your site optimized.

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Ready to start? Visit lighthouse.delaware.gov today to check out our Storybook documentation or reach out via our contact form to connect with the team!