Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Components

Sidenav

Hierarchical, vertical navigation to place at the side of a page.

This component is not officially supported

This component has not yet been built as a component in the Design System. Thus the Design System Team does not officially recognize nor support this component. Guidance and design assets are provided as is.

Example

See this in Storybook

Usage

When to use sidenav

  • To display the “sub-navigation” within a section of the website.

When to consider something else

  • If the site has fewer than five pages, consider organizing the page without a navigational hierarchy.
  • If your page already has a horizontal and vertical navigation bar, consider ways to simplify your navigation system.
  • If your content is within a frame or sub-area of a page, consider ways to simplify your navigation system.

How to use sidenav

  • Typically used in a two-column layout.
  • Indicate where a user is within the navigational hierarchy. Use the “active” state to show users which page they have navigated to.
  • Keep the navigation links short. They can be shorter derivatives of page titles themselves.
  • If the navigation hierarchy is too long, users may miss items at the bottom. If it’s too deep, users may miss items that require too many clicks. Usability test to find the right balance between breadth and depth.

Code usage

  • All elements, including the <script> tag in the snippet are required.
  • The va-btn-sidebarnav-trigger may appear anywhere in the DOM, as long as it appears in an expected place on mobile devices.

Accessibility considerations

  • Ensure the side navigational system is keyboard accessible. Users should be able to tab through each link.
Edit this page in GitHub (Permissions required)
Last updated: Feb 20, 2024