Angular Nav Component

Nav

Documentation and examples of how to use CoreUI Angular navigation components.

On this page

Navigation available in CoreUI for Angular share general markup and styles, from the base .nav class to the active and disabled states. Swap modifier classes to switch between each style.

Examples

The base c-nav component is built with flexbox and provide a strong foundation for building all types of navigation components. It includes some style overrides (for working with lists), some link padding for larger hit areas, and basic disabled styling.

Base nav

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-base',
  templateUrl: './nav-base.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./nav-base.component.scss'],
  imports: [NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavBaseComponent {}

<c-nav>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink> Active </a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink disabled> Disabled </a>
  </c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Classes are used throughout, so your markup can be super flexible. Use c-nav-item like above, or roll your own with a c-nav element. Because the .nav uses display: flex, the cNavLink behaves the same as c-nav-item would, but without the extra markup.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-base-2',
  templateUrl: './nav-base-2.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./nav-base.component.scss'],
  imports: [NavComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavBase2Component {}

<c-nav role="navigation">
  <a [active]="true" cNavLink routerLink>
    Active
  </a>
  <a cNavLink routerLink>Link</a>
  <a cNavLink routerLink>Link</a>
  <a [disabled]="true" cNavLink routerLink>
    Disabled
  </a>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Change the style of c-nav component with modifiers and utilities. Mix and match as needed, or build your own.

Horizontal alignment

Change the horizontal alignment of your nav with flexbox utilities. By default, navs are left-aligned, but you can easily change them to center or right aligned. Centered with .justify-content-center:

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-horizontal-alignment',
  templateUrl: './nav-horizontal-alignment.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./nav-base.component.scss'],
  imports: [NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavHorizontalAlignmentComponent {}

<c-nav class="justify-content-center">
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>
      Active
    </a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink disabled>
      Disabled
    </a>
  </c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Right-aligned with .justify-content-end:

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-horizontal-alignment-2',
  templateUrl: './nav-horizontal-alignment-2.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./nav-base.component.scss'],
  imports: [NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavHorizontalAlignment2Component {}

<c-nav class="justify-content-end">
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>
      Active
    </a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink disabled>
      Disabled
    </a>
  </c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Vertical

Stack your navigation by changing the flex item direction with the .flex-column utility. Need to stack them on some viewports but not others? Use the responsive versions (ex. .flex-sm-column).

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-vertical',
  templateUrl: './nav-vertical.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./nav-base.component.scss'],
  imports: [NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavVerticalComponent {}

<c-nav class="flex-column">
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>
      Active
    </a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [disabled]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>
      Disabled
    </a>
  </c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Tabs

Take the basic nav from above and add the variant="tabs" class to generate a tabbed interface

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-tabs',
  templateUrl: './nav-tabs.component.html',
  imports: [NavComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavTabsComponent {}

<c-nav variant="tabs">
  <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Active</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [disabled]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Disabled</a>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Pills

Take that same HTML, but use variant="pills" instead:

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-pills',
  templateUrl: './nav-pills.component.html',
  imports: [NavComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavPillsComponent {}

<c-nav variant="pills">
  <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Active</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [disabled]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Disabled</a>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Underline

PRO

Take that same HTML, but use variant=“underline”:

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-underline',
  templateUrl: './nav-underline.component.html',
  imports: [NavComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavUnderlineComponent {}

<c-nav variant="underline">
  <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Active</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [disabled]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Disabled</a>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Enclosed

Added in v5.7.24

Use variant="enclosed" to give your navigation items a subtle border and rounded styling.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { NavComponent, NavItemComponent } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-enclosed',
  templateUrl: './nav-enclosed.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./nav-base.component.scss'],
  imports: [NavComponent, NavItemComponent]
})
export class NavEnclosedComponent {}

<c-nav variant="enclosed">
  <c-nav-item [active]="true" href="#">Active</c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item href="#">Link</c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item href="#">Link</c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item [disabled]="true" href="#">Disabled</c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Enclosed pills

Added in v5.7.24

Use variant="enclosed-pills" for a pill-style appearance of each nav item. It adds the .nav-enclosed styling on top of the pill-shaped item borders.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { NavComponent, NavItemComponent } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-enclosed-pills',
  templateUrl: './nav-enclosed-pills.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./nav-base.component.scss'],
  imports: [NavComponent, NavItemComponent]
})
export class NavEnclosedPillsComponent {}

<c-nav variant="enclosed-pills">
  <c-nav-item [active]="true" href="#">Active</c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item href="#">Link</c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item href="#">Link</c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item [disabled]="true" href="#">Disabled</c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Link items

Added in v5.7.24

Set href on c-nav-item and it renders the cNavLink anchor for you, forwarding active, disabled and tabindex. Without href the item projects its content as is, so a router link keeps its own markup.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-link-items',
  templateUrl: './nav-link-items.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./nav-base.component.scss'],
  imports: [NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavLinkItemsComponent {}

<c-nav>
  <c-nav-item [active]="true" href="#">Active</c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item [disabled]="true" href="#">Disabled</c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink]="['./']" cNavLink>Link written by hand</a>
  </c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Fill and justify

Force your c-nav contents to extend the full available width one of two modifier classes. To proportionately fill all available space with your c-nav-item, use layout="fill". Notice that all horizontal space is occupied, but not every nav item has the same width.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-fill-justify',
  templateUrl: './nav-fill-justify.component.html',
  imports: [NavComponent, NavItemComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavFillJustifyComponent {}

<c-nav layout="fill" variant="pills">
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink> Active </a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink disabled> Disabled </a>
  </c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

For equal-width elements, use layout="justified". All horizontal space will be occupied by nav links, but unlike the fill above, every nav item will be the same width.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-fill-justify-2',
  templateUrl: './nav-fill-justify-2.component.html',
  imports: [NavComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavFillJustify2Component {}

<c-nav layout="justified" variant="pills">
  <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Active</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [disabled]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Disabled</a>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Working with flex utilities

If you need responsive nav variations, consider using a series of flexbox utilities. While more verbose, these utilities offer greater customization across responsive breakpoints. In the example below, our nav will be stacked on the lowest breakpoint, then adapt to a horizontal layout that fills the available width starting from the small breakpoint.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import { NavComponent, NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-working-with-flex-utilities',
  templateUrl: './nav-working-with-flex-utilities.component.html',
  imports: [NavComponent, NavLinkDirective, RouterLink]
})
export class NavWorkingWithFlexUtilitiesComponent {}

<c-nav class="flex-column flex-sm-row" role="navigation" variant="pills">
  <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Active</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  <a [disabled]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Disabled</a>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Using dropdowns

Add dropdown menus with a little extra HTML.

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import {
  DropdownComponent,
  DropdownItemDirective,
  DropdownMenuDirective,
  DropdownToggleDirective,
  NavComponent,
  NavItemComponent,
  NavLinkDirective
} from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-dropdowns',
  templateUrl: './nav-dropdowns.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./nav-base.component.scss'],
  imports: [
    NavComponent,
    NavItemComponent,
    NavLinkDirective,
    RouterLink,
    DropdownComponent,
    DropdownToggleDirective,
    DropdownMenuDirective,
    DropdownItemDirective
  ]
})
export class NavDropdownsComponent {}

<c-nav>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Active</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-dropdown variant="nav-item">
    <a [routerLink] cDropdownToggle cNavLink>Dropdown button</a>
    <ul cDropdownMenu>
      <li><a [routerLink] cDropdownItem>Action</a></li>
      <li><a [routerLink] cDropdownItem>Another action</a></li>
      <li><a [routerLink] cDropdownItem>Something else here</a></li>
    </ul>
  </c-dropdown>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [disabled]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Disabled</a>
  </c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Tabs with dropdowns

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import {
  DropdownComponent,
  DropdownItemDirective,
  DropdownMenuDirective,
  DropdownToggleDirective,
  NavComponent,
  NavItemComponent,
  NavLinkDirective
} from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-tabs-with-dropdowns',
  templateUrl: './nav-tabs-with-dropdowns.component.html',
  imports: [
    NavComponent,
    NavItemComponent,
    NavLinkDirective,
    RouterLink,
    DropdownComponent,
    DropdownToggleDirective,
    DropdownMenuDirective,
    DropdownItemDirective
  ]
})
export class NavTabsWithDropdownsComponent {}

<c-nav variant="tabs">
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Active</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-dropdown variant="nav-item">
    <a [routerLink] cDropdownToggle cNavLink>Dropdown button</a>
    <ul cDropdownMenu>
      <li><a [routerLink] cDropdownItem>Action</a></li>
      <li><a [routerLink] cDropdownItem>Another action</a></li>
      <li><a [routerLink] cDropdownItem>Something else here</a></li>
    </ul>
  </c-dropdown>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [disabled]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Disabled</a>
  </c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Pills with dropdowns

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { RouterLink } from '@angular/router';
import {
  DropdownComponent,
  DropdownItemDirective,
  DropdownMenuDirective,
  DropdownToggleDirective,
  NavComponent,
  NavItemComponent,
  NavLinkDirective
} from '@coreui/angular';

@Component({
  selector: 'docs-nav-pills-with-dropdowns',
  templateUrl: './nav-pills-with-dropdowns.component.html',
  imports: [
    NavComponent,
    NavItemComponent,
    NavLinkDirective,
    RouterLink,
    DropdownComponent,
    DropdownToggleDirective,
    DropdownMenuDirective,
    DropdownItemDirective
  ]
})
export class NavPillsWithDropdownsComponent {}

<c-nav variant="pills">
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [active]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Active</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-dropdown variant="nav-item">
    <a [routerLink] cDropdownToggle cNavLink>Dropdown button</a>
    <ul cDropdownMenu>
      <li><a [routerLink] cDropdownItem>Action</a></li>
      <li><a [routerLink] cDropdownItem>Another action</a></li>
      <li><a [routerLink] cDropdownItem>Something else here</a></li>
    </ul>
  </c-dropdown>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [routerLink] cNavLink>Link</a>
  </c-nav-item>
  <c-nav-item>
    <a [disabled]="true" [routerLink] cNavLink>Disabled</a>
  </c-nav-item>
</c-nav>

:host {
  .active {
    text-decoration: underline;
  }
}

Regarding accessibility

c-nav carries role="navigation" by default, so a nav used as a navigation bar is announced as such without extra markup. Change it with the role input where the nav is not a navigation landmark — several navigation landmarks on one page should be labelled (aria-label) so they can be told apart.

Note that navigation bars, even if visually styled as tabs with the .nav-tabs class, should not be given role="tablist", role="tab" or role="tabpanel" attributes. These are only appropriate for dynamic tabbed interfaces, as described in the WAI ARIA Authoring Practices. See JavaScript behavior for dynamic tabbed interfaces in this section for an example. The aria-current attribute is not necessary on dynamic tabbed interfaces since our JavaScript handles the selected state by adding aria-selected="true" on the active tab.

API reference

Nav Module

import { NavModule } from '@coreui/angular';

@NgModule({
    imports: [NavModule,]
})
export class AppModule() { }

c-nav

component

jsx

import { NavComponent } from '@coreui/angular'

Property	Default	Type
layout	`undefined`	`'fill'`, `'justified'`
Specify a layout type for component.
role	`'navigation'`	`string`
Default role for nav.
variant	`undefined`	`'enclosed'`, `'enclosed-pills'`, `'pills'`, `'tabs'`, `'underline'`, `'underline-border'`
Set the nav variant to tabs or pills.

c-nav-group

component

jsx

import { NavGroupComponent } from '@coreui/angular'

Props

Property	Default	Type
compact	`false`	`boolean`
Make nav group items more compact by cutting all `padding` in half.
toggler	-	`string`
Set group toggler label.
togglerTemplate	-	`TemplateRef<object>`
Template for the group toggler content, receives the visible state as `$implicit`.
visible	-	`boolean`
Show nav group items. Sets the initial state, and follows every later change.

Events

Event name

Event name
visibleChange
Event emitted on visibility change. `$event` `boolean`

visibleChange

Event emitted on visibility change.

$event boolean

c-nav-group-items

component

jsx

import { NavGroupItemsComponent } from '@coreui/angular'

Property	Default	Type
compact	`false`	`boolean`
Make nav group items more compact by cutting all `padding` in half.

c-nav-item

component

jsx

import { NavItemComponent } from '@coreui/angular'

Property	Default	Type
active	`undefined`	`boolean`
Toggle the active state for the nav link rendered for `href`.
disabled	`false`	`boolean`
Set disabled attr for the nav link rendered for `href`.
href	-	`string`
The href attribute of the nav link. Set it to render the nav link, otherwise the item projects its content as is.
tabindex	`undefined`	`number`
The tabindex attribute of the nav link rendered for `href`.

c-nav-title

component

jsx

import { NavTitleComponent } from '@coreui/angular'

cNavLink

directive

jsx

import { NavLinkDirective } from '@coreui/angular'

Property	Default	Type
active	`undefined`	`boolean`
Toggle the active state for the component
cNavLink	`true`	`boolean`
Sets .nav-link class to the host
disabled	`false`	`boolean`
Set disabled attr for the host element
tabindex	`undefined`	`number`
The tabindex attribute specifies the tab order of an element (when the "tab" button is used for navigating).