Side Nav

Design System - Side nav component

The Side Nav component acts as the primary navigation pattern, helping users access modules, submodules, and utilities in a compact, vertically stacked structure. Designed for both accessibility and scalability, it accommodates icons, labels, tree structures, and persistent actions, ensuring a consistent experience across municipal and citizen-facing interfaces.

Component React

// Sample code

 <SideNav
    items={[
      {
        icon: {
          icon: 'Home'
        },
        label: 'Home'
      },
      {
        children: [
          {
            icon: {
              icon: 'Work'
            },
            label: 'SubModule 1',
            path: '/'
          },
          {
            icon: {
              icon: 'Person'
            },
            label: 'SubModule 2',
            path: '/'
          }
        ],
        icon: {
          icon: 'ChatBubble'
        },
        label: 'Module 1'
      },
      {
        children: [
          {
            children: [
              {
                icon: {
                  icon: 'LabelImportant'
                },
                label: 'InnerModule 1',
                path: '/'
              },
              {
                icon: {
                  icon: 'Lock'
                },
                label: 'InnerModule 2',
                path: '/'
              }
            ],
            icon: {
              icon: 'Info'
            },
            label: 'SubModule 1',
            path: '/'
          },
          {
            icon: {
              icon: 'Accessibility'
            },
            label: 'SubModule 2',
            path: '/'
          }
        ],
        icon: {
          icon: 'CheckCircle'
        },
        label: 'Module 2'
      },
      {
        icon: {
          icon: 'Delete'
        },
        label: 'Module 3'
      },
      {
        icon: {
          icon: 'DriveFileMove'
        },
        label: 'Module 4'
      },
      {
        icon: {
          icon: 'Label'
        },
        label: 'Module 5'
      },
      {
        icon: {
          icon: 'Lightbulb'
        },
        label: 'Module 6'
      }
    ]}
    onBottomItemClick={function noRefCheck(){}}
    onSelect={function noRefCheck(){}}
    transitionDuration={0.5}
  />

Component Flutter

Component Design

Anatomy

Variants

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	Light Ideal for interfaces with brighter UIs, ensuring visual consistency and high contrast with dark icons and text.
	Dark Best suited for dashboards or applications requiring reduced eye strain or a focused visual hierarchy.

Properties

Enable Search Provides a quick-filtering input field at the top of the side nav, enabling users to locate modules and nested items efficiently. Particularly helpful in apps with deep or large information architectures.
Universal Action Includes persistent utilities like Help, Settings, and Logout; these remain accessible regardless of scroll or nav state, improving usability.
Tree Selection for Children Supports hierarchical navigation by displaying submodules or inner navigation when parent items are expanded. Allows users to interact with nested items.

Property Configuration Table

Each design component offers a range of configurable options. These options are intentionally platform-agnostic, allowing implementations to adapt and tailor them to align with the specific requirements of the chosen framework.

React

Property	Value	Default
items	text	-
theme	text	-
variant	yes/no	no
collapsedWidth	yes/no	no
expandedWidth	number	-
transitionDuration	yes/no	-
styles	yes/no	no
hideAccessbilityTools	yes/no	no
enableSearch	yes/no	no
onSelect	yes/no	no
onBottomItemClick	number	no
className	yes/no	no

Flutter

Usage Guide

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	Hierarchical Structure Enable tree selection for complex apps where submodules need to be grouped contextually. Don’t flatten deep hierarchies if users need to frequently access child modules—it hinders navigation efficiency.

Change log

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Date	Number	Notes
Dec 15, 2024	v-0.0.2	This component is added to the website. This component is now individually versioned.

Design Checklist

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	All interactive states - Includes all interactive states that are applicable (hover, down, focus, keyboard focus, disabled).
	Accessible use of colours - Colour is not used as the only visual means of conveying information (WCAG 2.1 1.4.1)
	Accessible contrast for text - Text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for small text and at least 3:1 for large text (WCAG 2.0 1.4.3).
	Accessible contrast for UI components - Visual information required to identify components and states (except inactive components) has a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 (WCAG 2.1 1.4.11).
	Keyboard interactions - Includes all interactive states that are applicable (hover, down, focus, keyboard focus, disabled).
	Screen reader accessible - All content, including headings, labels, and descriptions, is meaningful, concise, contextual and accessible by screen readers.
	Responsive for all breakpoints - Responsiveness for 3 breakpoints - Mobile, Tablet and Desktop
	Usage guidelines - Includes a list of dos and don'ts that highlight best practices and common mistakes.
	Content guidelines - Content standards and usage guidelines for writing and formatting in-product content for the component.
	Defined variants and properties - Includes relevant variants and properties (style, size, orientation, optional iconography, decorative elements, selection states, error states, etc.)
	Defined behaviours - Guidelines for keyboard navigation and focus, layout management (including wrapping, truncation, and overflow), animations, and user interactions.
	Design Kit - Access to the design file for the component in Figma, multiple options, states, colour themes, and platform scales.