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Introduction to CSS library

Get started with Digigov CSS, the official CSS library of the GOV.GR design system for building responsive, mobile-first sites.

Digigov CSS is built using Tailwind CSS, a modern utility-first CSS framework that uses PostCSS under the hood. Our goal is to provide a lightweight, easy-to-use and well documented CSS library for everyone that wants to create a pixel-perfect GOV.GR Service.

Moreover, we want to provide a pure solution that doesn't require any additional external dependencies to work, although it is designed to work with a multitude of tools and technologies and delivery architectures, for example as an NPM module, as a Tailwind plugin or as a vendor file that you can download and serve on a CDN. You choose your stack and your devops process.

Quick start​

Looking to quickly add Digigov CSS to your project? You can use the free CDN of jsdelivr.net. Whether you're using a package manager or you need to download the source files, please head to the Installation page.

Copy-paste the stylesheet <link> into your <head> before all other stylesheets to load our CSS.

<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/tailwindcss/dist/tailwind.css" rel="stylesheet" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@digigov/css@latest/dist/digigov.css" rel="stylesheet" crossorigin="anonymous">

Our components are designed to be standalone, therefore there is no need to include a JS file. You can use the CSS provided as part of a server-side rendering pipeline or using any latest cutting-edge front-end framework.

Starter template​

Be sure to have your pages set up with the latest design and development standards. That means using an HTML5 doctype and including a viewport meta tag for proper responsive behaviors. Put it all together and your pages should look like this:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="el">
  <head>
    <!-- Required meta tags -->
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

    <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/tailwindcss/dist/tailwind.css" rel="stylesheet" crossorigin="anonymous">
        <!-- Digigov CSS -->
    <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@digigov/css@latest/dist/digigov.css" rel="stylesheet" crossorigin="anonymous">

    <title>GOV.GR</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <header class="govgr-header">
      <div class="govgr-header__container">
        <div class="govgr-header__content">
          <img class="govgr-header__logo" src="https://www.gov.gr/gov_gr_logo.svg" alt="gov.gr logo" />
          <div class="govgr-header__title">Όνομα Υπηρεσίας</div>
        </div>
        </div>
    </header>
    <div class="govgr-width-container">
      <div class="govgr-main-wrapper">
        <div class="govgr-grid-column-two-thirds">
          <h1 class="govgr-heading-xl">This is Heading 1</h1>
          <p class="govgr-body">Ο παρών οδηγός δημιουργήθηκε για να καλύψει τις συνεχώς αυξανόμενες ανάγκες της δημόσιας διοίκησης για τη δημιουργία ενιαίων και φιλικών ψηφιακών εμπειριών χρήσης, με γνώμονα πάντα την εξυπηρέτηση των πολιτών.
          </p>
        </div>
      </div>
      <h1 class="govgr-heading-xl">Heading xl</h1>
      <h2 class="govgr-heading-lg">Heading l</h2>
      <h3 class="govgr-heading-md">Heading m</h3>
      <h4 class="govgr-heading-sm">Heading s</h4>
      <button class="govgr-btn govgr-btn-primary govgr-btn-cta">
        Call to action button 
        <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" class="govgr-svg-icon--arrow--right" focusable="false" aria-hidden="true"> <path d="M8.5,2L6.1,4.3l7.6,7.7l-7.6,7.6L8.5,22l10-10L8.5,2z"/> </svg>
      </button>
      <button class="govgr-btn govgr-btn-primary">Primary button</button>
      <button class="govgr-btn govgr-btn-secondary"> Secondary button </button>
      <button class="govgr-btn govgr-btn-warning"> Warning button </button>
    </div>
    <footer class="govgr-footer" role="contentinfo">
      <div class="govgr-width-container">
        <div class="govgr-footer__meta">
          <div class="govgr-footer__meta-item govgr-footer__meta-item--grow">
            <div class="govgr-footer__content">
              <p class="govgr-footer__licence-description">
                Υλοποίηση από το 
                <a href="https://grnet.gr" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" class="govgr-link">ΕΔΥΤΕ<span class="govgr-visually-hidden">(ανοίγει σε καινούρια καρτέλα)</span></a> για το
                <a href="https://mindigital.gr/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" class="govgr-link"> Υπουργείο Ψηφιακής Διακυβέρνησης <span class="govgr-visually-hidden">(ανοίγει σε καινούρια καρτέλα)</span></a>
              </p>
            </div>
          </div>
          <div class="govgr-footer__meta-item">
            <img class="govgr-footer__government-logo" src="static/img/government-logo2.svg" alt="government logo" />
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    </footer>
  </body>
</html>

Important Globals​

Digigov CSS employs a handful of important global styles and settings that you’ll need to be aware of when using it, all of which are almost exclusively geared towards the normalization of cross browser styles. Let’s dive in.

HTML5 Doctype​

Digigov CSS requires the use of the HTML5 doctype. Without it, you’ll see some funky incomplete styling, but including it shouldn’t cause any considerable hiccups.

<!doctype html>
<html lang="el">
  ...
</html>

Responsive meta tag​

Digigov CSS is developed mobile first, a strategy in which we optimize code for mobile devices first and then scale up components as necessary using CSS media queries. To ensure proper rendering and touch zooming for all devices, add the responsive viewport meta tag to your <head>.

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

You can see an example of this in action in the starter template.