--- stage: none group: unassigned info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments description: "Learn how GitLab docs' global navigation works and how to add new items." --- # Global navigation > - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/-/merge_requests/362) in GitLab 11.6. > - [Updated](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/-/merge_requests/482) in GitLab 12.1. > - [Per-project](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/-/merge_requests/498) navigation added in GitLab 12.2. > - [Unified global navigation](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/-/merge_requests/1482) added in GitLab 13.11. Global navigation is the left-most pane in the documentation. You can use the "global nav" to browse the content. Research shows that people use Google to search for GitLab product documentation. When they land on a result, we want them to find topics nearby that are related to the content they're reading. The global nav provides this information. At the highest level, our global nav is workflow-based. Navigation needs to help users build a mental model of how to use GitLab. The levels under each of the higher workflow-based topics are the names of features. For example: **Use GitLab** (_workflow_) **> Build your application** (_workflow_) **> CI/CD** (_feature_) **> Pipelines** (_feature_) ## Choose the right words for your navigation entry Before you add an item to the left nav, choose the parts of speech you want to use. The nav entry should match the page title. However, if the title is too long, when you shorten the phrase, use either: - A noun, like **Merge requests**. - An active verb, like **Install GitLab** or **Get started with runners**. Use a phrase that clearly indicates what the page is for. For example, **Get started** is not as helpful as **Get started with runners**. ## Add a navigation entry To add a topic to the global nav, edit [`navigation.yaml`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/blob/main/content/_data/navigation.yaml) and add your item. Without a navigation entry: - The navigation closes when the page is opened, and the reader loses their place. - The page isn't visible in a group with other pages. ### Pages you don't need to add Exclude these pages from the global nav: - Legal notices. - Pages in the `architecture/blueprints` directory. - Pages in the `user/application_security/dast/checks/` directory. The following pages should probably be in the global nav, but the technical writers do not actively work to add them: - Pages in the `/development` directory. - Pages authored by the support team, which are under the `doc/administration/troubleshooting` directory. Sometimes pages for deprecated features are not in the global nav, depending on how long ago the feature was deprecated. All other pages should be in the global nav. The technical writing team runs a report to determine which pages are not in the nav. For now this report is manual, but [an issue exists](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/-/issues/1212) to automate it. ### Where to add Documentation pages can be said to belong in the following groups: - GitLab users. This is documentation for day-to-day use of GitLab for users with any level of permissions, from Reporter to Owner. - GitLab administrators. This tends to be documentation for self-managed instances that requires access to the underlying infrastructure hosting GitLab. - Other documentation. This includes documentation for customers outside their day-to-day use of GitLab and for contributors. Documentation that doesn't fit in the other groups belongs here. With these groups in mind, the following are general rules for where new items should be added. - User documentation for: - Group-level features belongs under **Groups**. - Project-level features belongs under **Projects**. - Features outside a group or project level (sometimes called "instance-level") can be placed at the top-level, but care must be taken not to overwhelm that top-level space. If possible, such features could be grouped in some way. - Outside the above, most other miscellaneous user documentation belongs under **User**. - Administration documentation belongs under **Administrator**. - Other documentation belongs at the top-level, but care must be taken to not create an enormously long top-level navigation, which defeats the purpose of it. Making all documentation and navigation items adhere to these principles is being progressively rolled out. ### What to add Having decided where to add a navigation element, the next step is deciding what to add. The mechanics of what is required is [documented below](#data-file) but, in principle: - Navigation item text (that which the reader sees) should: - Be as short as possible. - Be contextual. It's rare to need to repeat text from a parent item. - Avoid jargon or terms of art, unless ubiquitous. For example, **CI** is an acceptable substitution for **Continuous Integration**. - Navigation links must follow the rules documented in the [data file](#data-file). ## How it works The global nav has five levels: - Section - Category - Doc - Doc - Doc You can view this structure in [the `navigation.yml` file](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/-/blob/main/content/_data/navigation.yaml). **Do not** [add items](#add-a-navigation-entry) to the global nav without the consent of one of the technical writers. ## Composition The global nav is built from two files: - [Data](#data-file) - [Layout](#layout-file-logic) The data file feeds the layout with the links to the docs. The layout organizes the data among the nav in containers properly [styled](#css-classes). ### Data file The data file describes the structure of the navigation for the applicable project. It is stored at and comprises of three main components: - Sections - Categories - Docs #### Sections Each section represents the higher-level nav item. It's composed by title and URL: ```yaml sections: - section_title: Text section_url: 'link' ``` The section can stand alone or contain categories within. #### Categories Each category within a section composes the second level of the nav. It includes the category title and link. It can stand alone in the nav or contain a third level of sub-items. Example of section with one stand-alone category: ```yaml - section_title: Section title section_url: 'section-link' section_categories: - category_title: Category title category_url: 'category-link' ``` Example of section with two stand-alone categories: ```yaml - section_title: Section title section_url: 'section-link' section_categories: - category_title: Category 1 title category_url: 'category-1-link' - category_title: Category 2 title category_url: 'category-2-link' ``` For clarity, **always** add a blank line between categories. #### Docs Each doc represents the third, fourth, and fifth level of nav links. They must be always added within a category. Example with three doc links, one at each level: ```yaml - category_title: Category title category_url: 'category-link' docs: - doc_title: Document title doc_url: 'doc-link' docs: - doc_title: Document title doc_url: 'doc-link' docs: - doc_title: Document title doc_url: 'doc-link' ``` A category supports as many docs as necessary, but, for clarity, try to not overpopulate a category. Also, do not use more than three levels of docs, it is not supported. Example with multiple docs: ```yaml - category_title: Category title category_url: 'category-link' docs: - doc_title: Document 1 title doc_url: 'doc-1-link' - doc_title: Document 2 title doc_url: 'doc-2-link' ``` If you need to add a document in an external URL, add the attribute `external_url` below the doc link: ```yaml - doc_title: Document 2 title doc_url: 'doc-2-link' external_url: true ``` All nav links are selectable. If the higher-level link does not have a link of its own, it must link to its first sub-item link, mimicking the navigation in GitLab. This must be avoided so that we don't have duplicated links nor two `.active` links at the same time. Example: ```yaml - category_title: Operations category_url: 'ee/user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/' # until we have a link to operations, the first doc link is # repeated in the category link docs: - doc_title: Metrics doc_url: 'ee/user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/' ``` #### Syntax For all components (sections, categories, and docs), **respect the indentation** and the following syntax rules. ##### Titles - Use sentence case, capitalizing feature names. - There's no need to wrap the titles, unless there's a special char in it. For example, in `GitLab CI/CD`, there's a `/` present, therefore, it must be wrapped in quotes. As convention, wrap the titles in double quotes: `category_title: "GitLab CI/CD"`. ##### URLs URLs can be either relative or external, and the following apply: - All links in the data file must end with `.html` (with the exception of `index.html` files), and not `.md`. - For `index.html` files, use the clean (canonical) URL: `path/to/`. For example, `https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/install/index.html` becomes `ee/install/`. - Do not start any relative link with a forward slash `/`. - As convention, always wrap URLs in single quotes `'url'`. - Always use the project prefix depending on which project the link you add lives in. To find the global nav link, from the full URL remove `https://docs.gitlab.com/`. - If a URL links to an external URL, like the [GitLab Design System](https://design.gitlab.com), add the attribute `external_url: true`, for example: ```yaml - category_title: GitLab Design System category_url: 'https://design.gitlab.com' external_url: true ``` Examples of relative URLs: | Full URL | Global nav URL | | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | | `https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/avatar.html` | `ee/api/avatar.html` | | `https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/install/index.html` | `ee/install/` | | `https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/database.html` | `omnibus/settings/database.html` | | `https://docs.gitlab.com/charts/installation/deployment.html` | `charts/installation/deployment.html` | | `https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/docker.html` | `runner/install/docker.html` | ### Layout file (logic) The [layout](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/blob/main/layouts/global_nav.html) is fed by the [data file](#data-file), builds the global nav, and is rendered by the [default](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/blob/main/layouts/default.html) layout. The global nav contains links from all [four upstream projects](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/-/blob/main/doc/architecture.md). The [global nav URL](#urls) has a different prefix depending on the documentation file you change. | Repository | Link prefix | Final URL | |----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------|------------------------------------| | | `ee/` | `https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/` | | | `omnibus/` | `https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/` | | | `runner/` | `https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/` | | | `charts/` | `https://docs.gitlab.com/charts/` | ### CSS classes The nav is styled in the general `stylesheet.scss`. To change its styles, keep them grouped for better development among the team. The URL components have their unique styles set by the CSS classes `.level-0`, `.level-1`, and `.level-2`. To adjust the link's font size, padding, color, etc, use these classes. This way we guarantee that the rules for each link do not conflict with other rules in the stylesheets.