Components

Side navigation

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

<div class="grid-row grid-gap">
  <div class="tablet:grid-col-4 margin-bottom-4 tablet:margin-bottom-0">
    <nav aria-label="Side navigation,">
  <ul class="usa-sidenav">
    <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
      <a href="javascript:void(0);" class="usa-current">Current page</a>
    </li>
    <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
      <a href="javascript:void(0);">Parent link</a>
    </li>
    <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
      <a href="javascript:void(0);">Parent link</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</nav>
  </div>

  <div class="tablet:grid-col-4 margin-bottom-4 tablet:margin-bottom-0">
    <nav aria-label="Side navigation,,">
  <ul class="usa-sidenav">
    <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
      <a href="javascript:void(0);">Parent link</a>
    </li>
    <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
      <a href="javascript:void(0);" class="usa-current">Current page</a>
      <ul class="usa-sidenav__sublist">
        <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
          <a href="javascript:void(0);">Child link</a>
        </li>
        <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
          <a href="javascript:void(0);">Child link</a>
        </li>
        <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
          <a href="javascript:void(0);" class="usa-current">Child link</a>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </li>
    <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
      <a href="javascript:void(0);">Parent link</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</nav>
  </div>

  <div class="tablet:grid-col-4">
    <nav aria-label="Side navigation,,,">
  <ul class="usa-sidenav">
    <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
      <a href="javascript:void(0);">Parent link</a>
    </li>
    <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
      <a href="javascript:void(0);" class="usa-current">Current page</a>
      <ul class="usa-sidenav__sublist">
        <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
          <a href="javascript:void(0);">Child link</a>
        </li>
        <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
          <a href="javascript:void(0);">Child link</a>
          <ul class="usa-sidenav__sublist">
            <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
              <a href="javascript:void(0);">Grandchild link</a>
            </li>
            <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
              <a href="javascript:void(0);" class="usa-current"
                >Grandchild link</a
              >
            </li>
            <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
              <a href="javascript:void(0);">Grandchild link</a>
            </li>
          </ul>
        </li>
        <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
          <a href="javascript:void(0);">Child link</a>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </li>
    <li class="usa-sidenav__item">
      <a href="javascript:void(0);">Parent link</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</nav>
  </div>
</div>

Guidance

When to use the side navigation component

  • To display a navigational hierarchy with one to three levels.
  • To display the “sub-navigation” within a section of the website.

When to consider something else

  • Small site. If the site has fewer than five pages, consider organizing the page without a navigational hierarchy.
  • Existing navigation. If your page already has a horizontal and vertical navigation bar, consider ways to simplify your navigation system.

Usability guidance

  • Show the current page. 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.
  • Always test your navigation. 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.

Accessibility

  • The width of the current menu item’s highlight border is set with the $theme-sidenav-current-border-width variable.

Using the side navigation component

Side navigation settings

Variable Description
$theme-sidenav-current-border-width

Width of the current section indicator.
$theme-sidenav-font-family

Font family of the side navigation.

Side navigation variants

This component has no variants.

Package

  • Package usage: @forward "usa-sidenav";
  • Dependencies: uswds-fonts

Latest updates

Meaningful code and guidance updates are listed in the following table:

Date USWDS version Affects Breaking Description
2022-08-05 3.1.0
  • Accessibility
  • Guidance
  • JavaScript
  • Markup
 Breaking

Breaking Added type="button" to all non-form buttons to prevent default submit behaviors. This allowed us to remove preventDefault() from the relevant component JavaScript. More information: uswds#4695

2022-04-28 3.0.0
  • Assets
  • JavaScript
  • Styles
 Breaking

Breaking Updated to Sass module syntax and new package structure. More information: uswds#4656

2021-04-28 2.11.2
  • Styles
 No

Fixed color of active parents in side navigation. Fixed a regression where parent items in usa-sidenav no longer receive primary color. More information: uswds#4163