18F’s Federalist helps agencies build websites faster

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The new platform automates common tasks for launching websites and makes managing them easier.

The team at 18F has introduced the latest service to help federal agencies better deliver digital services. Federalist is a suite of tools to help make launching and maintaining secure, accessible websites easier for agencies.

Currently in its first phase of software testing, the Federalist “automates common tasks for integrating GitHub, a content editor and Amazon Web Services,” so that web developers can manage and create new static websites on one consolidated platform, 18F said in a post on GSA.gov.

The toolkit is equipped with a collection of static-site templates and a web-based content editor, allowing agencies to easily add and create section 508-compliant content while cutting the cost of designing an entirely new site or standing up a content management system.

Agencies can even build customized templates with the platform’s scalable, static-site architecture, making it easy for developers to upload text and images and publish a page.

Essentially, agencies can post content as simply as posting to social media with user-friendly tools built on an open source platform that will produce a secure, outward-facing website capable of managing high-volume traffic.  The static site delivers content to users exactly as it’s stored on the server, as opposed to a dynamic website where content may change every time the page is visited.   

The platform is intended to be a faster, less expensive and more efficient option for developers building static sites and agencies without the website expertise.  According to 18F, Federalist uses the same scalable content delivery strategy developed for healthcare.gov and the recently launched College Scorecard.

To get started, agencies can sign up through the Federalist site or refer to the Federalist Content Guide. 

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