Why the NSW Design System
It is the NSW Government's own system for building services people can use and recognise.
People recognise a NSW government service because every one of them behaves the same way. That recognition is the point of the system.
Components are built and tested to WCAG 2.2 AA. Accessibility stops being a project you run at the end.
Colour, type, spacing and behaviour arrive with the system. Teams spend their time on content instead of arguing about style.
The design system moves on centrally. A site built on it takes the change as an update.
Why headless
The site people read and the system editors work in are two separate things, joined by an API.
What editors log into is not what the public reaches. The CMS is not on the internet.
The public site is rendered ahead of time, so a visitor is not waiting on a CMS.
The frontend and the CMS meet at an API. Either can change without rebuilding the other.
Open source end to end, and an adapter can be written for another CMS. Your content stays yours.
See it work
Features
Brand Compliance assured
Control Panel to turn a Masterbrand site into an Independent
Custom search form builder with filters and highlting results in pdfs, docs and pages.
Store or email responses with built in spam protection and skip logic
Visit the NSW Design System documentation for more information on how the design system and how to use it to meet brand guidelines.
Why Inka
Inka is a design-system-first page builder. It talks to a CMS through an adapter, so the same implementation runs on Plone today and on Drupal or WordPress tomorrow — same components, same rules, same editing.
Most CMS make you edit forms and fields instead of the actual page. Inka is visual: you type into the page itself and drag blocks around it — intuitive, faster, and far less frustrating for editors.
Inka is open source end to end, which matters when data sovereignty and data protection are important to your organisation: full control, no lock-in.
Every component the design system defines is already built and tested against its own examples. A compliant NSW site is a deployment, not a frontend project.
The design system is enforced where the page is authored: which blocks belong where, which combinations are allowed, accessibility checked the same way. Overrides are recorded rather than quietly applied.
Editors type into the page itself and drag blocks around it, seeing exactly what a visitor will see. There are no forms and fields to learn, and pages are served pre-rendered so they stay fast.
Inka reaches a content management system through an adapter interface. The same components, rules and editing run on whichever system you adopt.
Why Inka with a Plone backend
Plone's Security track record is over 20years and no major known security breaches which is why it runs CIA, FBI and many Government websites
Plone indexes every page, file and PDF it holds. That index is what the search and listing blocks query, including highlighted results inside documents.
Large organisations can control their content with Fine grained permissions, Versioning, Design System Guidance, Automations, Custom Workflows, MultiLingual and more
Plone is community built and owned, future proofing it's use. All plugins are free. Plone's global eco-system of vendors offers support, hosting and consulting. No single company can derail its continued use.
Developed by PretaGov
PretaGov is the Sydney and London agency behind Inka. We have built Plone sites for Transport (NSW and UK), Health, LECC, the Crime Commission, Victorian SES, Qld CCC and NSW Fair Trading. Hosting and support are available through NSW Buy.
PretaGov would like to work with NSW Government Entities that require Independent or Co-Brand NSW DDS website conversions, or if you require a custom NSW government branded web application. We are contactable via NSW Buy or via https://pretagov.com.au