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Breadcrumb

Figma GitHub

A Breadcrumb is a type of secondary navigation that reveals the user’s location in an application.

A Breadcrumb is a type of secondary navigation that reveals the user’s location in an application.

Usage

When to use

  • To display the hierarchy and location of the current page.
  • While not required for every page, a breadcrumb is highly encouraged for the majority of pages with the exception of high-level overviews and dedicated workflows.

When not to use

Item types

Text only

Current page

The last item in a the breadcrumb should always be the current page, and it should not be interactive.

With icon

Truncation

Toggle and menu

The truncated menu will include all of the hidden Breadcrumb Items. Clicking on the toggle or using enter or spacebar will open the truncated menu.

Example of the spacing of used in a truncated menu

Icons

Number of icons

We recommend only adding icons to the first three items to avoid unnecessary visual noise.

Do
Don’t

Icon placement

Icons shouldn’t be placed randomly within the list. If the preceding item doesn’t include an icon, the next item shouldn’t include an icon either.

Do
Don’t

Truncation methods

We offer various options for truncation due to depth or lack of space.

Truncate middle

“Truncate middle” houses any number of Breadcrumb Items under a menu in the middle of the Breadcrumb. The number of items displayed before and after truncation depends on the use case and space available within the application. We recommend this method if needing to truncate the Breadcrumb.

Truncate squeeze

“Truncate squeeze” reduces the persistent Breadcrumb Items to the first and last/current items and hides the other items under a menu. We recommend only using this method when space is limited, such as on mobile viewports.

Width-based

Each text-based item can truncate using a pixel-based max-width. We recommend this option for items with long text strings.

How to use this component

The Breadcrumb is an application-level UI element, so it’s likely to be implemented once per application.

Basic use

A few parameters were omitted for clarity.

<Hds::Breadcrumb>
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="My org" @icon="org" />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="Consul" @icon="consul" />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="my-consul-cluster" />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="Overview" @current={{true}} />
</Hds::Breadcrumb>

With routing parameters

Add the correct @route/@models/@model/@query parameter to each Breadcrumb Item.

<Hds::Breadcrumb>
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="My org" @icon="org" @route="components" />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="Consul" @icon="consul" @route="components" />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item
    @text="my-consul-cluster"
    @route="components"
    @model={{@cluster.id}}
  />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="Overview" @current={{true}} />
</Hds::Breadcrumb>

No wrapping

By default, the Breadcrumb allows items to wrap on multiple lines if the container is too small. Pass false to the @itemsCanWrap parameter to avoid wrapping.

The text will automatically truncate and be replaced with an ellipsis to fit within the container. However, this may result in the text being unavailable to keyboard-only users and, thus, is not WCAG-conformant.

<Hds::Breadcrumb @itemsCanWrap={{false}}>
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="My org" @icon="org" />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="Consul" @icon="consul" />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="my-consul-cluster" />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="Overview" @current={{true}} />
</Hds::Breadcrumb>

With truncation

It’s possible to hide part of the Breadcrumb tree under a "truncated" item that shows the elements on "toggle".

The text will automatically truncate and be replaced with an ellipsis to fit within the container. However, this may result in the text being unavailable to keyboard-only users and, thus, is not WCAG conformant.

<Hds::Breadcrumb>
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="My org" @icon="org" @route="components" />
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Truncation>
    <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="Consul" @icon="consul" @route="components" />
    <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="my-consul-cluster" @route="components" />
    <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="Cluster details" @route="components" />
  </Hds::Breadcrumb::Truncation>
  <Hds::Breadcrumb::Item @text="Cluster sub-details" @current={{true}} />
</Hds::Breadcrumb>

Component API

The Breadcrumb component is composed of three different parts, each with their own APIs:

  • a container, Breadcrumb container
  • an item child component, Breadcrumb::Item
  • a truncation child component, Breadcrumb::Truncation

Name
itemsCanWrap
Type
boolean
Default
  • true (default)
Description
This controls if the Breadcrumb Items can wrap if they don’t fit within the container.
Name
ariaLabel
Type
string
Default
  • "breadcrumbs" (default)
Description
Accepts a localized string.
Name
didInsert
Type
function
Description
This hook method is called when the component is inserted in the DOM. Internally we use the did-insert modifier from @ember/render-modifiers.
Name
…attributes
Description
This component supports use of ...attributes.

Name
text
Type
string
Description
The text displayed within the item.
Name
icon
Type
string
Description
Use to show an icon. Any icon name is acceptable.
Name
route/models/model/query
Description
These parameters are passed down as arguments to the <LinkTo> component.
Name
current
Type
boolean
Default
  • false (default)
Description
Determines if an item is the last item in the Breadcrumb, in which case it doesn’t generate a link.
Name
…attributes
Description
This component supports use of ...attributes.

Name
ariaLabel
Type
string
Default
  • show more (default)
Description
Set on the truncation toggle button. Accepts a localized string.
Name
yield
Description
Elements passed as children of this child component are yielded to the content of the MenuPrimitive component (used to show/hide the yielded Breadcrumb Items via a "toggle" button).
Name
…attributes
Description
This component supports use of ...attributes.

Anatomy

Anatomy of a breadcrumb item

Element Usage
Text Required, unless using a truncated item
Leading icon Optional
Focus ring Focus state only

Anatomy of a breadcrumb component

Element Usage
Item At least one is required
Separator Required between Breadcrumb Items
Current page Required

States

Default

Default state of the breadcrumb component

Hover

Hover state of the breadcrumb component

Active

Active state of the breadcrumb component

Focus

Focus state of the breadcrumb component

Conformance status

Conditionally conformant

Breadcrumbs are conformant unless using the truncation feature, which would not pass a WCAG conformance audit.

Known issues

When the browser zoom is scaled to 400% and a truncated menu is open, the menu may extend beyond the viewport and require the user to scroll in multiple directions. This is a failure of Reflow – 1.4.10.

The breadcrumb component with the “truncation” dropdowm extending beyond the viewport

When the browser zoom is scaled to 400% and @itemsCanWrap is set to false, the text may truncate and become unavailable to keyboard-only users.

The breadcrumb component with truncated text (ellipsis)

Applicable WCAG Success Criteria

This section is for reference only. This component intends to conform to the following WCAG Success Criteria:

  • 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A):
    Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text.
  • 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (Level A):
    When the sequence in which content is presented affects its meaning, a correct reading sequence can be programmatically determined.
  • 1.4.10 Reflow (Level AA):
    Content can be presented without loss of information or functionality, and without requiring scrolling in two dimensions.
  • 1.4.12 Text Spacing (Level AA):
    No loss of content or functionality occurs by setting all of the following and by changing no other style property: line height set to 1.5; spacing following paragraphs set to at least 2x the font size; letter-spacing set at least 0.12x of the font size, word spacing set to at least 0.16 times the font size.
  • 1.4.3 Minimum Contrast (Level AA):
    The visual presentation of text and images of text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
  • 1.4.4 Resize Text (Level AA):
    Except for captions and images of text, text can be resized without assistive technology up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality.
  • 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A):
    All functionality of the content is operable through a keyboard interface.
  • 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap (Level A):
    If keyboard focus can be moved to a component of the page using a keyboard interface, then focus can be moved away from that component using only a keyboard interface.
  • 2.4.3 Focus Order (Level A):
    If a Web page can be navigated sequentially and the navigation sequences affect meaning or operation, focusable components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability.
  • 2.4.5 Multiple Ways (Level AA):
    More than one way is available to locate a Web page within a set of Web pages except where the Web Page is the result of, or a step in, a process.
  • 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (Level AA):
    Headings and labels describe topic or purpose.
  • 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA):
    Any keyboard operable user interface has a mode of operation where the keyboard focus indicator is visible.
  • 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation (Level AA):
    Navigational mechanisms that are repeated on multiple Web pages within a set of Web pages occur in the same relative order each time they are repeated.

Support

If any accessibility issues have been found within this component, let us know by submitting an issue.

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