Components

Navs and tabs

Documentation and examples for how to use the included navigation components.

Base nav#

Navigation available in felt-css shares general markup and styles, from the base .nav class to the active and disabled states. Swap modifier classes to switch between each style.

The base .nav component is built with flexbox and provides 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.

Unlike Bootstrap's, the base .nav in felt-css does style the active state: a .nav-link with .active or aria-current="page" is drawn as a filled pill, just like in .nav-pills. Leave both off if you want plain links.

To convey the active state to assistive technologies, use the aria-current attribute — using the page value for current page, or true for the current item in a set.

<ul class="nav">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

Classes are used throughout, so your markup can be super flexible. Use <ul>s like above, <ol> if the order of your items is important, or roll your own with a <nav> element. Because the .nav uses display: flex, the nav links behave the same as nav items would, but without the extra markup.

<nav class="nav">
  <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
</nav>

Available styles#

Change the style of .navs 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:

<ul class="nav justify-content-center">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

Right-aligned with .justify-content-end:

<ul class="nav justify-content-end">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

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 (e.g., .flex-sm-column).

<ul class="nav flex-column">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

As always, vertical navigation is possible without <ul>s, too.

<nav class="nav flex-column">
  <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
</nav>

Tabs#

Takes the basic nav from above and adds the .nav-tabs class to generate a tabbed interface. Use them to create tabbable regions with Bootstrap's tab JavaScript plugin.

<ul class="nav nav-tabs">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

In felt, the active tab is a flap of the sheet below it: the row of stitches under the tabs is covered beneath the active one, so the flap stays open into its pane. The active pill is a small raised patch of felt.

Pills#

Take that same HTML, but use .nav-pills instead:

<ul class="nav nav-pills">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

Underline#

Take that same HTML, but use .nav-underline instead:

<ul class="nav nav-underline">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

Fill and justify#

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

<ul class="nav nav-pills nav-fill">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Much longer nav link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

When using a <nav>-based navigation, you can safely omit .nav-item as only .nav-link is required for styling <a> elements.

<nav class="nav nav-pills nav-fill">
  <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  <a class="nav-link" href="#">Much longer nav link</a>
  <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
</nav>

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

<ul class="nav nav-pills nav-justified">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Much longer nav link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

Similar to the .nav-fill example using a <nav>-based navigation.

<nav class="nav nav-pills nav-justified">
  <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  <a class="nav-link" href="#">Much longer nav link</a>
  <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
</nav>

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.

<nav class="nav nav-pills flex-column flex-sm-row">
  <a class="flex-sm-fill text-sm-center nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  <a class="flex-sm-fill text-sm-center nav-link" href="#">Longer nav link</a>
  <a class="flex-sm-fill text-sm-center nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  <a class="flex-sm-fill text-sm-center nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
</nav>

Regarding accessibility#

If you're using navs to provide a navigation bar, be sure to add a role="navigation" to the most logical parent container of the <ul>, or wrap a <nav> element around the whole navigation. Do not add the role to the <ul> itself, as this would prevent it from being announced as an actual list by assistive technologies.

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 ARIA Authoring Practices Guide tabs pattern. 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 the JavaScript handles the selected state by adding aria-selected="true" on the active tab.

Using dropdowns#

Add dropdown menus with a little extra HTML and the dropdowns JavaScript plugin.

Tabs with dropdowns#

<ul class="nav nav-tabs">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item dropdown">
    <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" href="#" role="button" aria-expanded="false">Dropdown</a>
    <ul class="dropdown-menu">
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a></li>
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a></li>
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a></li>
      <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li>
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Separated link</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

Pills with dropdowns#

<ul class="nav nav-pills">
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Active</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item dropdown">
    <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" href="#" role="button" aria-expanded="false">Dropdown</a>
    <ul class="dropdown-menu">
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a></li>
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a></li>
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a></li>
      <li><hr class="dropdown-divider"></li>
      <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Separated link</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item">
    <a class="nav-link disabled" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
  </li>
</ul>

JavaScript behavior#

Use Bootstrap's tab JavaScript plugin to extend navigational tabs and pills to create tabbable panes of local content. Activate a tab or pill without writing any JavaScript by specifying data-bs-toggle="tab" or data-bs-toggle="pill" on each control, with data-bs-target pointing at its .tab-pane. To make the panes fade in, add .fade to each .tab-pane; the first one must also have .show to make the initial content visible.

This is some placeholder content the Home tab's associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.

This is some placeholder content the Profile tab's associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.

This is some placeholder content the Contact tab's associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.

This is some placeholder content the Disabled tab's associated content.

<ul class="nav nav-tabs mb-3" id="myTab" role="tablist">
  <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
    <button class="nav-link active" id="home-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#home-tab-pane" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="home-tab-pane" aria-selected="true">Home</button>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
    <button class="nav-link" id="profile-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#profile-tab-pane" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="profile-tab-pane" aria-selected="false">Profile</button>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
    <button class="nav-link" id="contact-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#contact-tab-pane" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="contact-tab-pane" aria-selected="false">Contact</button>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
    <button class="nav-link" id="disabled-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#disabled-tab-pane" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="disabled-tab-pane" aria-selected="false" disabled>Disabled</button>
  </li>
</ul>
<div class="tab-content" id="myTabContent">
  <div class="tab-pane fade show active" id="home-tab-pane" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="home-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Home tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile-tab-pane" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="profile-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Profile tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  <div class="tab-pane fade" id="contact-tab-pane" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="contact-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Contact tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  <div class="tab-pane fade" id="disabled-tab-pane" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="disabled-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Disabled tab's</strong> associated content.</div>
</div>

To help fit your needs, this works with <ul>-based markup, as shown above, or with any arbitrary "roll your own" markup. Note that if you're using <nav>, you shouldn't add role="tablist" directly to it, as this would override the element's native role as a navigation landmark. Instead, switch to an alternative element (in the example below, a simple <div>) and wrap the <nav> around it.

This is some placeholder content the Disabled tab's associated content.

<nav>
  <div class="nav nav-tabs mb-3" id="nav-tab" role="tablist">
    <button class="nav-link active" id="nav-home-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#nav-home" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="nav-home" aria-selected="true">Home</button>
    <button class="nav-link" id="nav-profile-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#nav-profile" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="nav-profile" aria-selected="false">Profile</button>
    <button class="nav-link" id="nav-contact-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#nav-contact" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="nav-contact" aria-selected="false">Contact</button>
    <button class="nav-link" id="nav-disabled-tab" data-bs-toggle="tab" data-bs-target="#nav-disabled" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="nav-disabled" aria-selected="false" disabled>Disabled</button>
  </div>
</nav>
<div class="tab-content" id="nav-tabContent">
  <div class="tab-pane fade show active" id="nav-home" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="nav-home-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Home tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  <div class="tab-pane fade" id="nav-profile" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="nav-profile-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Profile tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  <div class="tab-pane fade" id="nav-contact" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="nav-contact-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Contact tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  <div class="tab-pane fade" id="nav-disabled" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="nav-disabled-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Disabled tab's</strong> associated content.</div>
</div>

The tabs plugin also works with pills.

This is some placeholder content the Disabled tab's associated content.

<ul class="nav nav-pills mb-3" id="pills-tab" role="tablist">
  <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
    <button class="nav-link active" id="pills-home-tab" data-bs-toggle="pill" data-bs-target="#pills-home" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="pills-home" aria-selected="true">Home</button>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
    <button class="nav-link" id="pills-profile-tab" data-bs-toggle="pill" data-bs-target="#pills-profile" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="pills-profile" aria-selected="false">Profile</button>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
    <button class="nav-link" id="pills-contact-tab" data-bs-toggle="pill" data-bs-target="#pills-contact" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="pills-contact" aria-selected="false">Contact</button>
  </li>
  <li class="nav-item" role="presentation">
    <button class="nav-link" id="pills-disabled-tab" data-bs-toggle="pill" data-bs-target="#pills-disabled" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="pills-disabled" aria-selected="false" disabled>Disabled</button>
  </li>
</ul>
<div class="tab-content" id="pills-tabContent">
  <div class="tab-pane fade show active" id="pills-home" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pills-home-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Home tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  <div class="tab-pane fade" id="pills-profile" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pills-profile-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Profile tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  <div class="tab-pane fade" id="pills-contact" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pills-contact-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Contact tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  <div class="tab-pane fade" id="pills-disabled" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="pills-disabled-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Disabled tab's</strong> associated content.</div>
</div>

And with vertical pills. Ideally, for vertical tabs, you should also add aria-orientation="vertical" to the tab list container.

This is some placeholder content the Disabled tab's associated content.

This is some placeholder content the Messages tab's associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.

This is some placeholder content the Settings tab's associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.

<div class="d-flex align-items-start">
  <div class="nav flex-column nav-pills me-3" id="v-pills-tab" role="tablist" aria-orientation="vertical">
    <button class="nav-link active" id="v-pills-home-tab" data-bs-toggle="pill" data-bs-target="#v-pills-home" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="v-pills-home" aria-selected="true">Home</button>
    <button class="nav-link" id="v-pills-profile-tab" data-bs-toggle="pill" data-bs-target="#v-pills-profile" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="v-pills-profile" aria-selected="false">Profile</button>
    <button class="nav-link" id="v-pills-disabled-tab" data-bs-toggle="pill" data-bs-target="#v-pills-disabled" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="v-pills-disabled" aria-selected="false" disabled>Disabled</button>
    <button class="nav-link" id="v-pills-messages-tab" data-bs-toggle="pill" data-bs-target="#v-pills-messages" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="v-pills-messages" aria-selected="false">Messages</button>
    <button class="nav-link" id="v-pills-settings-tab" data-bs-toggle="pill" data-bs-target="#v-pills-settings" type="button" role="tab" aria-controls="v-pills-settings" aria-selected="false">Settings</button>
  </div>
  <div class="tab-content" id="v-pills-tabContent">
    <div class="tab-pane fade show active" id="v-pills-home" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="v-pills-home-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Home tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
    <div class="tab-pane fade" id="v-pills-profile" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="v-pills-profile-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Profile tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
    <div class="tab-pane fade" id="v-pills-disabled" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="v-pills-disabled-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Disabled tab's</strong> associated content.</div>
    <div class="tab-pane fade" id="v-pills-messages" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="v-pills-messages-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Messages tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
    <div class="tab-pane fade" id="v-pills-settings" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="v-pills-settings-tab" tabindex="0">This is some placeholder content the <strong>Settings tab's</strong> associated content. Clicking another tab will toggle the visibility of this one for the next. The tab JavaScript swaps classes to control the content visibility and styling.</div>
  </div>
</div>

Accessibility#

Dynamic tabbed interfaces, as described in the ARIA Authoring Practices Guide tabs pattern, require role="tablist", role="tab", role="tabpanel", and additional aria- attributes in order to convey their structure, functionality, and current state to users of assistive technologies (such as screen readers). As a best practice, we recommend using <button> elements for the tabs, as these are controls that trigger a dynamic change, rather than links that navigate to a new page or location.

In line with the ARIA Authoring Practices pattern, only the currently active tab receives keyboard focus. Once the active tab has focus, the cursor keys activate the previous/next tab, and Home and End activate the first and last tabs. To make the tab panels themselves focusable, add tabindex="0" to them, as in the examples above.

The tab JavaScript plugin does not support tabbed interfaces that contain dropdown menus, as these cause both usability and accessibility issues.

Methods and events#

Methods (show, dispose, getInstance, getOrCreateInstance) and events (show.bs.tab, shown.bs.tab, hide.bs.tab, hidden.bs.tab) work exactly as described in Bootstrap's navs and tabs documentation.

const triggerEl = document.querySelector('#myTab button[data-bs-target="#profile-tab-pane"]')
bootstrap.Tab.getOrCreateInstance(triggerEl).show()