Joe Biden’s inauguration day White House website makeover

Hours into Joe Biden’s Presidency, the White House website has received some symbolic makeovers.

US President Joe Biden has been inaugurated in Washington D.C., and the website for his time in the White House has been given an immediate makeover.

For those who are particularly curious about the new web design, there’s also a way they can help design the next one.

Digging into the source code of the website (which you can do with “ctrl + U” on Google Chrome) reveals a call-out for young coders to apply to join the US Digital Service, a group of technologists working across the federal government to transform critical government services for the online world.

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The new website's code has a hidden message.

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“If you’re reading this, we need your help building back better,” the code said alongside a link to an application form, mirroring Mr Biden’s slogan for his economic recovery plan.

One change has been welcomed by advocacy group the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

The contact form of the White House website now allows people to specify the pronouns they use.

A screenshot from internet archive the Wayback Machine from Wednesday shows the field missing from the contact form.

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The contact form on the White House website now gives people an option to specify their pronouns.

The change, as you’d expect, has been largely welcomed by GLAAD’s followers, who have called the small gesture a marker of change from the new administration.

The @WhiteHouse website contact form now asks for your pronouns. pic.twitter.com/W5S36efo1d

— GLAAD (@glaad) January 20, 2021

joe biden has been president for three hours https://t.co/NlqiW7bcuH

— ryan john butcher (@ryanjohnbutcher) January 20, 2021

I cannot. Like... this is so small and just indicates so much. https://t.co/EXZtV1Rr05

— Shawn Christensen 🏳️‍🌈 (@pollenmicrobes) January 20, 2021

This is such a small thing that could get lost in the shuffle of every big thing that we are looking forward to and trying to do, but it's very important and kind and I'm happy someone made it their job to get this done on day one of this admin. https://t.co/YgiBaDt8oN

— the demiurge (@DBSK) January 20, 2021

REPRESENTATION MATTERS

We just went from an admin that at the start of the day was literally taking LGBT+ rights away to WH forms asking for your pronouns.

I love this. https://t.co/TQUaLJNZLX

— juice (@juice716) January 20, 2021

It’s a new era, friends. We have a presidential administration in place that cares about trans and non-binary people, and it already shows. https://t.co/c3sM6iw5Eb

— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) January 20, 2021

Many have also pointed out the change sits in stark contrast to the one now former US president Donald Trump made on his first day in office.

On that day in 2017, information on the White House website relating to LGBTQI issues – including a formal apology issued 11 days earlier by former Secretary of State John Kerry over an internal state department program that cost at least 1000 people their jobs for being accused of homosexuality in the 1950s and ’60s – was scrubbed from the site.

The first thing Trump did when he took office was delete the @WhiteHouse website #LGBT pages.

The first thing Biden does is add a pronouns field! 🙌🏻🏳️‍⚧️💕#Inauguration awesomeness 😎 https://t.co/q3RXaNSJYM

— Helen🏳️‍⚧️💙 (@mimmymum) January 20, 2021

It’s not the only change for the White House website.

The new design also adds a toggle for “high contrast” reading, commonly known as “dark mode”.

The new design features a toggle to turn the website background dark for easier reading.

Dark mode, which makes the bright white on your computer or smartphone screen black which can be easier on the eyes, helps people with reading difficulties to read better on screen.

There’s also a toggle to make text on the site bigger.

THE WHITEHOUSE WEBSITE HAS DARK MODE I’M LOSING IT. pic.twitter.com/7kXlBhUXeJ

— Sara Ownbey Chipps (@SaraJChipps) January 20, 2021