Case StudyCUUF Front-end Baseline

Internal applications often begin with the same front-end decisions: routing, layout, styling, reusable UI patterns, accessibility, environment configuration, and onboarding. Without a shared foundation, each team makes those choices differently, creating inconsistent implementations that become harder to maintain as more developers and screens are added.

The challenge was to create a baseline that supported active delivery without becoming too rigid or too abstract for real project teams to use.

1. Established application structure, routing patterns, and layout conventions for internal front-end projects.
2. Defined reusable styling and component patterns to reduce one-off implementation decisions.
3. Built accessibility expectations into the foundation instead of treating them as late-stage fixes.
4. Created an onboarding documentation set for teams adopting CUUF, covering setup, architecture conventions, auth patterns, accessibility expectations, curated Section 508 resources, and portable NVDA guidance for practical screen reader testing.
5. Adapted front-end architecture patterns first established on ODIN, an earlier internal application, into a broader reusable baseline.
6. Formalized the CUUF foundation so future teams could start from clearer implementation expectations.

The CUUF baseline gave internal front-end projects a clearer starting point. It reduced repeated setup decisions and gave adopting teams a shared reference for architecture, authentication, accessibility, implementation expectations, and practical 508 testing.

• Front-endReact, Vite, JavaScript, SCSS
• UI ArchitectureUSWDS, routing architecture, component architecture, responsive layout
• Authentication & WorkflowKeycloak/OIDC, GitLab
• Accessibility & Onboarding WCAG/Section 508, VoiceOver, NVDA, onboarding wiki documentation