Breadcrumbs

The breadcrumbs component helps users to understand where they are within a website’s structure and move between levels.

Example

HTML code

<nav>
    <ol class="govcy-breadcrumb">
        <li class="govcy-breadcrumb-item"><a href="#" class="govcy-breadcrumb-link">Home</a></li>
        <li class="govcy-breadcrumb-item"><a href="#" class="govcy-breadcrumb-link">Passports, travel and living abroad</a></li>
        <li class="govcy-breadcrumb-item"><a href="#" class="govcy-breadcrumb-link">Travel abroad</a></li>
    </ol>
</nav>

When to use this component

Use the breadcrumbs component when you need to help users understand and move between the multiple levels of a website.

When not to use this component

Breadcrumbs work best on websites with clear hierarchical structure. Avoid using breadcrumbs on services.

Do not use the breadcrumbs component on websites with a flat structure, or to show progress through a linear journey or transaction.

If you’re using other navigational elements on the page, such as a sidebar, consider whether your users need the additional support of breadcrumbs.

Never use the back link component together with breadcrumbs. If necessary, you should do research with your users to learn which they find more helpful in your service.

How it works

Always place back links at the top of a page, in the Before main section. Placing them here means that the ‘Skip to main content’ link allows the user to skip all navigation links, including the back link.

The breadcrumb should start with your ‘home’ page and end with the parent section of the current page.

Collapsing breadcrumbs on mobile devices

If you have long breadcrumbs you can configure the component to only show the first and last items on mobile devices.

To do this, add a govcy-breadcrumbs-collapse-on-mobile class to the outer <div> element of the component HTML.

Scroll the section to a mobile viewport to view the collapse.

Example

HTML code

<nav>
    <ol class="govcy-breadcrumb govcy-breadcrumbs-collapse-on-mobile">
        <li class="govcy-breadcrumb-item"><a href="#" class="govcy-breadcrumb-link">Home</a></li>
        <li class="govcy-breadcrumb-item"><a href="#" class="govcy-breadcrumb-link">Enviroment</a></li>
        <li class="govcy-breadcrumb-item"><a href="#" class="govcy-breadcrumb-link">Rural</a></li>
        <li class="govcy-breadcrumb-item"><a href="#" class="govcy-breadcrumb-link">Land management</a></li>
        <li class="govcy-breadcrumb-item"><a href="#" class="govcy-breadcrumb-link">Economic growth in rural areas</a></li>
        <li class="govcy-breadcrumb-item"><a href="#" class="govcy-breadcrumb-link">Documents</a></li>
    </ol>
</nav>

Accessibility

Make sure:

• no other interactive elements are too close to the breadcrumbs. This is to make sure users can easily interact with the breadcrumbs
• you use the <nav> element to allow assistive technology to present the breadcrumbs in context as a navigational element on the page
• you use ordered lists <ol> and list items <li> to allow assistive technology to enumerate the items in the breadcrumbs