A navigation bar (or navigation system) is a section of a graphical user interface intended to aid visitors in accessing information. Navigation bars are implemented in file browsers, web browsers and as a design element of some web sites.

File browsers

File browsers use a navigation bar to assist the user in traversing the filesystem. Navigation bars may include the current path,

breadcrumb Bread crumbs or breadcrumbs (regional variants including breading and crispies) consist of crumbled bread of various dryness, sometimes with seasonings added, used for breading or crumbing foods, topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thickeni ...

s, or a list of

favorites In the context of the World Wide Web, a bookmark is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that is stored for later retrieval in any of various storage formats. All modern web browsers include bookmark features. Bookmarks are called favorites or In ...

Web browsers

A web browser navigation bar includes the back and forward buttons, as well as the

Location bar In a web browser, the address bar (also location bar or URL bar) is the element that shows the current URL. The user can type a URL into it to navigate to a chosen website. In most modern browsers, non-URLs are automatically sent to a search eng ...

where URLs are entered. Formerly the functionality of the navigation bar was split between the browser's toolbar and the address bar, but

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...

introduced the practice of merging the two. Some early versions of

Netscape Netscape Communications Corporation (originally Mosaic Communications Corporation) was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in Mountain View, California and then Dulles, Virginia. Its Netscape web browser was onc ...

used the HTML tag to construct a navigation bar to navigate web sites. Today the tag can be used for the same purpose.

Web design

Typically, web sites will have a primary navigation bar and a secondary navigation bar on all pages. These sections of the webpage will include links to the most important sections of the site. The implementation and design of navigation bars is a crucial aspect of web design and web

usability Usability can be described as the capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which a soft ...

. In general, navigation bars are found in a page's header, but may also be found in the form of a

sidebar Sidebar may refer to: * Sidebar (publishing) * Sidebar (law) * Sidebar (computing), a type of graphical user interface element ** Windows Sidebar Windows Desktop Gadgets (called Windows Sidebar in Windows Vista) is a discontinued widget engi ...

. File:Rudy 2008 web header.png, A typical webpage header with a navigation bar File:Wikipedia CamelCase Navigation Bar.png, A minimally styled header bar File:BookManager navbar cropped.png, Page navigation

HTML5 nav tag

In HTML5, navigation elements are enclosed in a <nav> tag, often, containing a list of links.

References

Web design Graphical control elements Graphical user interface elements {{WWW-stub

File browsers

Web browsers

Web design

HTML5 nav tag

See also

References