Start with HIG-QUICK.md. It explains the practical rules most teams and AI coding agents need in about five minutes.

Do I need to follow every rule?

Follow rules for your page type and feature. Accessibility, tokens, performance, and security are always required. Use archetype packs to see what is mandatory for your case.

I'm not using AI — is this still for me?

Yes. The HIG is written for human developers and designers first. AI-related sections are optional extras for teams using Cursor, Copilot, or Claude Code.

How is this different from a style guide?

A style guide covers look and feel. This also covers behavior: error handling, delete flows, performance targets, accessibility compliance, and security requirements.

Is this competing with WCAG, Material, or Lighthouse?

No. WCAG is the accessibility target. Material, Fluent, Carbon, and GOV.UK are visual or domain design systems. Lighthouse measures. The Web HIG is the behavioral contract that sits in the gap between them.

Can I customize rules for my product?

Documented exceptions are allowed with justification. Security, accessibility, and data-protection rules cannot be skipped.

The Web HIG

A practical standard for how web interfaces should behave.

Q: Is this a component library?

No. It is a rulebook and engineering contract, not a component library. You keep your design system, framework, and components; the HIG defines how they should work together.

The Web HIG gives teams a shared set of rules for usable, accessible, responsive, performant, predictable, and safe web applications.

Design systems define what your UI looks like.

The Web HIG defines how it behaves.

It is not a component library, CSS framework, or visual theme. Keep your existing stack and use HIG as a practical behavior and quality contract. Why it exists →

Read Quick Audit my site Star on GitHub

Start here Read the 5-minute Quick Reference Adopt in your repo

New to The Web HIG?

Start here if you are seeing the project for the first time. The short version: HIG helps you decide what should happen around your components when real users load, navigate, submit, search, fail, recover, resize, or delete something.

What it is

A vendor-neutral, versioned web interface standard for behavior, interface states, accessibility, performance, security UX, and AI-assisted implementation.

What it is not

Not a component library, Figma kit, CSS framework, brand system, or replacement for WCAG, HTML, CSS, ARIA, or your design system.

When to use it

Use it while building, reviewing, auditing, or asking an AI coding agent to change a web interface consistently.

Choose your first step

I just want to understand it Read HIG-QUICK About five minutes, with the everyday rules most people need. I want to use it in a project Adopt gradually Pin the Quick Reference, map routes, then add checks when ready. I already have a website Open HIG Audit Evaluate an existing site against the standard.

Explore the documentation

The site is split into focused pages so first-time visitors can start small and go deeper only when they need more detail.

Step 1

Understand

Plain-language overview: what HIG is, what it is not, why it exists, and where it fits in your stack.

Open Understand →

Step 2

Adopt

Start with one file, then pin the standard, run the installer, map routes, and add checks when your team is ready.

Start adopting →

Step 3

AI & agents

Tell Cursor, Copilot, Claude, or another coding agent which HIG layer to follow without loading the full spec every time.

Use with AI →

Lookup

Reference

Archetypes, rule ID prefixes, validation, spec index, glossary, and full FAQ.

Browse reference →

One standard. Three levels.

Progressive disclosure — load only what you need. Pin HIG-QUICK instead of the full specification.

Quick

98 rules

~5 minutes. Default for daily work and AI agents.

HIG-QUICK.md →

Practical

Rule modules

Building features — rule IDs, topic modules, archetype packs.

HIG-LITE.md + rules/ →

Full

Complete spec

Edge cases, spec conflicts, CI gate definitions.

HIG.md →

Essential rules (summary) 10 governance layers Loading model for agents

Common questions

Where do I start?

Start with New to The Web HIG?, then read HIG-QUICK.md. It is the everyday onboarding path and takes about five minutes.

Is this a component library?

No. You keep your design system and stack; the HIG defines behavior, states, accessibility, performance, and security UX.

All FAQ answers →