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Primary navigation

Status: To be reviewed

Created in June 2021.

How to use ‘to be reviewed’ components
Components with a ‘to be reviewed’ status have been added for use by everyone, but have not been checked or improved recently. Read about all the Design System statuses.
Open this example (Primary navigation (example)) in a new window 
<div class="moj-primary-navigation">

  <div class="moj-primary-navigation__container">

    <div class="moj-primary-navigation__nav">

      <nav class="moj-primary-navigation" aria-label="Primary navigation">

        <ul class="moj-primary-navigation__list">
          <li class="moj-primary-navigation__item">
            <a class="moj-primary-navigation__link" aria-current="page" href="#1">Nav item 1</a>
          </li>

          <li class="moj-primary-navigation__item">
            <a class="moj-primary-navigation__link" href="#2">Nav item 2</a>
          </li>

          <li class="moj-primary-navigation__item">
            <a class="moj-primary-navigation__link" href="#3">Nav item 3</a>
          </li>
        </ul>

      </nav>

    </div>
  </div>

</div>

Nunjucks macro options

Container

Name Type Required Description
label string No The aria-label to add to the navigation container.
items array Yes An array of navigation item objects. See items.
searchHtml sting No
containerClasses string No Classes to add to the parent div container.
classes string No Classes to add to the nav container.
attributes object No HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the nav container.

Items

Name Type Required Description
href string Yes URL of the navigation item anchor. Both href and text attributes for navigation items need to be provided to create an item.
text string Yes If html is set, this is not required. Text to use within the anchor. If html is provided, the text argument will be ignored.
html string Yes If text is set, this is not required. HTML to use within the anchor. If html is provided, the text argument will be ignored.
active boolean No Flag to mark the navigation item as active or not. Defaults to false.
attributes object No HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the navigation item anchor.

Warning: If you’re using Nunjucks macros in production be aware that using HTML arguments, or ones ending with .html can be at risk from cross-site scripting attacks. More information about security vulnerabilities can be found in the Nunjucks documentation.

{%- from "moj/components/primary-navigation/macro.njk" import mojPrimaryNavigation -%}

{{ mojPrimaryNavigation({
  label: "Primary navigation",
  items: [
    {
      text: "Nav item 1",
      href: "#1",
      active: true
    },
    {
      text: "Nav item 2",
      href: "#2"
    },
    {
      text: "Nav item 3",
      href: "#3"
    }
  ]
}) }}

This component is in the ‘Assets’ tab in the MoJ Figma Kit.

If you’re external to MoJ, download the Kit and add it as a library to your Figma files. You’ll need to re-add the kit to update the version.

View component in MoJ Figma Kit

When to use

Use the primary navigation component to let users navigate and search your service.

How to use

You must use this component with the header component.

You must only include links to top level sections within your service.

Do not put calls to action in the primary navigation. For example, ‘Create case’ should be an action from within the ‘cases’ section and not a link inside the primary navigation.

If your service can search anything, use an inline search form.

Open this example (Primary navigation with inline search (example)) in a new window 
<div class="moj-primary-navigation">

  <div class="moj-primary-navigation__container">

    <div class="moj-primary-navigation__nav">

      <nav class="moj-primary-navigation" aria-label="Primary navigation">

        <ul class="moj-primary-navigation__list">
          <li class="moj-primary-navigation__item">
            <a class="moj-primary-navigation__link" aria-current="page" href="#1">Nav item 1</a>
          </li>

          <li class="moj-primary-navigation__item">
            <a class="moj-primary-navigation__link" href="#2">Nav item 2</a>
          </li>

          <li class="moj-primary-navigation__item">
            <a class="moj-primary-navigation__link" href="#3">Nav item 3</a>
          </li>
        </ul>

      </nav>

    </div>
    <div class="moj-primary-navigation__search">

      <div class="moj-search moj-search--ondark moj-search--inline">
        <form action="" method="get">

          <div class="govuk-form-group">
            <label class="govuk-label moj-search__label govuk-visually-hidden" for="search-1">
              Search
            </label>

            <input class="govuk-input moj-search__input " id="search-1" name="search-1" type="search">

          </div>

          <button type="submit" class="govuk-button moj-search__button " data-module="govuk-button">
            Search
          </button>

        </form>
      </div>

    </div>
  </div>

</div>

{%- from "moj/components/primary-navigation/macro.njk" import mojPrimaryNavigation -%}
{%- from "moj/components/search/macro.njk" import mojSearch -%}

{%- set inlineSearchHtml %}
  {{ mojSearch({
    classes: "moj-search--ondark moj-search--inline",
    input: {
      id: "search-1",
      name: "search-1"
    },
    label: {
      text: "Search",
      classes: "govuk-visually-hidden"
    },
    button: {
      text: "Search"
    }
  }) }}
{% endset -%}

{{ mojPrimaryNavigation({
  label: "Primary navigation",
  items: [{
    text: "Nav item 1",
    href: "#1",
    active: true
  }, {
    text: "Nav item 2",
    href: "#2"
  }, {
    text: "Nav item 3",
    href: "#3"
  }],
  searchHtml: inlineSearchHtml
}) }}

If your service can only search for certain things, use a toggle search form.

You must tell users what they are searching for in the form hint text, and how they can search using the data-toggle-button.text attribute.

Open this example (Primary navigation with toggleable search (example)) in a new window 
<div class="moj-primary-navigation">

  <div class="moj-primary-navigation__container">

    <div class="moj-primary-navigation__nav">

      <nav class="moj-primary-navigation" aria-label="Primary navigation">

        <ul class="moj-primary-navigation__list">
          <li class="moj-primary-navigation__item">
            <a class="moj-primary-navigation__link" aria-current="page" href="#1">Nav item 1</a>
          </li>

          <li class="moj-primary-navigation__item">
            <a class="moj-primary-navigation__link" href="#2">Nav item 2</a>
          </li>

          <li class="moj-primary-navigation__item">
            <a class="moj-primary-navigation__link" href="#3">Nav item 3</a>
          </li>
        </ul>

      </nav>

    </div>
    <div class="moj-primary-navigation__search">
      <div class="moj-search-toggle" data-module="moj-search-toggle" data-toggle-button.text="Find case">
        <div class="moj-search-toggle__toggle"></div>
        <div class="moj-search-toggle__search">

          <div class="moj-search moj-search--ondark moj-search--toggle moj-js-hidden">

            <form action="" method="get">

              <div class="govuk-form-group">
                <label class="govuk-label moj-search__label govuk-visually-hidden" for="search2">
                  Search
                </label>

                <div id="search2-hint" class="govuk-hint moj-search__hint ">
                  Enter case number, for example 123456
                </div>

                <input class="govuk-input moj-search__input " id="search2" name="search2" type="search" aria-describedby="search2-hint">

              </div>

              <button type="submit" class="govuk-button moj-search__button " data-module="govuk-button">
                Search
              </button>

            </form>
          </div>

        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>

</div>

{%- from "moj/components/primary-navigation/macro.njk" import mojPrimaryNavigation -%}
{%- from "moj/components/search/macro.njk" import mojSearch -%}

{%- set toggleSearchHtml %}
  <div class="moj-search-toggle" data-module="moj-search-toggle" data-toggle-button.text="Find case">
    <div class="moj-search-toggle__toggle"></div>
    <div class="moj-search-toggle__search">
      {{ mojSearch({
        classes: "moj-search--ondark moj-search--toggle moj-js-hidden",
        input: {
          id: "search2",
          name: "search2"
        },
        label: {
          classes: "govuk-visually-hidden",
          text: "Search"
        },
        hint: {
          text: "Enter case number, for example 123456"
        },
        button: {
          text: "Search"
        }
      }) }}
    </div>
  </div>
{% endset -%}

{{ mojPrimaryNavigation({
  label: "Primary navigation",
  items: [
    {
      text: "Nav item 1",
      href: "#1",
      active: true
    },
    {
      text: "Nav item 2",
      href: "#2"
    },
    {
      text: "Nav item 3",
      href: "#3"
    }
  ],
  searchHtml: toggleSearchHtml
}) }}

Get help and contribute

Get help

You can contact the MoJ Design System team for help or support using this component.

Help improve this component

The MoJ Design System team would like to hear:

  • how you have used this component in your service
  • any feedback you have about its usage, for example accessibility or ideas for improvement

Add these comments to the primary navigation discussion on GitHub.