Site navigation

The main navigation on a website, site navigation is a row of core links that appears on every page.

<nav class="ds_site-navigation">
    <ul class="ds_site-navigation__list">
        <li class="ds_site-navigation__item">
            <a href="#" class="ds_site-navigation__link">
                Get started
            </a>
        </li>
        <li class="ds_site-navigation__item">
            <a href="#" class="ds_site-navigation__link">
                Styles
            </a>
        </li>
        <li class="ds_site-navigation__item">
            <span class="ds_site-navigation__link  ds_current">
                Components
            </span>
        </li>
        <li class="ds_site-navigation__item">
            <a href="#" class="ds_site-navigation__link">
                Patterns
            </a>
        </li>
    </ul>
</nav>

About this component

Site navigation arranges key links into a row and should go at the top of a website.

Links may be collapsed into an expandable ‘menu’ button on mobiles.

Why we use this component

Top level navigation gives users an overview of what’s included in a site by outlining its main categories.

It can also help users find key content quicker.

Evidence

Analytics evidence from mygov.scot and gov.scot shows that users are more likely to navigate to site sections of gov.scot using the site header’s primary navigation than using the same links on panels lower down the homepage.

Website analytics

To understand user behaviour, clicks on site navigation items can be tracked through the original page path, the click URL, the click text, and a data attribute showing the item clicked.

The data attributes are added automatically by the Design System’s “tracking” script.