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Standalone Link

Figma GitHub

A link used in isolation and not as a part of surrounding body text.

Usage

When to use

  • To navigate to a new destination, either internally or externally.
  • As a standalone element or within a Button Set.

When not to use

  • Within a body of text, consider Inline Link.
  • To trigger an action or event, like a form submission, consider Button.

Size

We recommend using a medium size, but use whichever size fits best in the UI. For example, don’t use large links in tables.

Small Medium Large

Color

Primary

Take care when needing multiple links on a page; too many primary links can distract from the end goal.

We recommend using the primary variant as the default and for more important links.

For example, when navigating the user to “View clusters”:

View clusters

Secondary

Use the Secondary variant for less important links, when the primary color can’t be used, or when creating a list of links.

For example, on an install page, when navigating the user to “Learn more about Vault”:

Learn more about Vault

Icon position

A Standalone Link can include a leading or trailing icon. Avoid creating links with both leading and trailing icons.

Leading

In most cases, use leading icons. Choose icons that add meaning and clarity to the action described in the link’s text.

Download View connections

Do

Consider directionality; if directing the user backward in a flow, use the leading position.

Back to Dashboard

Do

Always use the leading position for product or service icons (e.g., GitHub).

Edit pages in GitHub

Boundary Consul Vault Waypoint

Trailing

Consider trailing icons when there’s no other meaningful icon or when guiding the user forward through the product.

  • Use arrow-right for internal links.
  • Use learn-link for links to tutorials.
  • Use docs-link for links to documentation or installation guides.
  • Use external-link for external links.
Do

View billing Service mesh tutorial Consul documentation Submit feedback

Don’t

Don’t put product or service icons in the trailing position.

Edit pages in GitHub

Boundary Consul Vault Waypoint

To learn more about icon best practices, review our Icon usage guidelines.

Vertical list

We recommend at least 8px between Standalone Links when placed in a horizontal list.

Recommended spacing between Standalone Links in a vertical list

Don’t

Don't stack Standalone Links without any space between them. This creates a cluttered visual and requires precise mouse interaction that may not make for an inclusive experience.

Example of no space between Standalone Links in a vertical list

Horizontal list

We recommend at least 16px between Standalone Links when placed in a horizontal list.

Recommended spacing between Standalone Links in a horizontal list

Common patterns

Within Button Sets

Standalone Links often appear in Button Sets.

Previous

Content

  • Text should be short and to the point (~25 characters). Text labels should not consist of full sentences but should provide enough context to be useful.
  • Use language consistently within each product (e.g., if “Edit” is used on one page, use that same convention throughout, instead of a similar word such as "Change").

The Standalone Link handles the generation of:

  • an HTML anchor element <a> that points to an external URL (when using a @href argument)
  • an Ember component <LinkTo> that points to an internal application link or resource (when using a @route argument)

Due to differences in text rendering between Figma and web browsers, the Link::Standalone Ember component uses font-weight 400 vs. the Figma component which uses font-weight 500.

How to use this component

The most basic invocation requires both @icon and @text, and either an @href or @route argument.

Watch tutorial video 
<Hds::Link::Standalone @icon="film" @text="Watch tutorial video" @href="..." />

Icon position

By default the icon is placed before the text. If you would like to position it after the text, set @iconPosition to trailing.

Watch tutorial video 
<Hds::Link::Standalone @icon="film" @iconPosition="trailing" @text="Watch tutorial video" @href="..." />

Color

There are two available colors for a Standalone Link: primary and secondary. The default is primary. To use the other option, set @color to secondary.

Read tutorial 
<Hds::Link::Standalone @color="secondary" @icon="collections" @text="Read tutorial" @href="..." />

Size

There are three sizes available: small, medium, and large. The default is medium. To use a different size, set a value for @size:

Read tutorial 
<Hds::Link::Standalone @icon="collections" @text="Read tutorial" @size="small" @href="..." />
Read tutorial 
<Hds::Link::Standalone @icon="collections" @text="Read tutorial" @size="large" @href="..." />

URL and route handling

To generate an Inline Link, pass an @href or @route argument to the component. If neither are provided, the component will throw an error.

Standalone Links use the generic Hds::Interactive component. Learn more about how the Interactive utility component works.

With @href

To generate an <a> link, pass an @href argument with a URL as the value.

target=“_blank” and rel=“noopener noreferrer” attributes are applied by default. This is the most common case, as internal links are generally handled using a @route argument.

Request a demo 
<Hds::Link::Standalone @icon="terraform" @text="Request a demo" @href="https://www.hashicorp.com/request-demo/terraform" />

With @route

All the standard arguments for the <LinkTo/LinkToExternal> components are supported (eg. models/model/query/current-when/replace).

For <LinkTo>

To generate an <a> link using a <LinkTo> Ember component, pass a @route argument.

Go to the index page 
<Hds::Link::Standalone @icon="collections" @text="Go to the index page" @route="my.page.route" @model="my.page.model" />
For <LinkToExternal>

If the route is external to your current engine, pass @isRouteExternal=true to the component so that it will use <LinkToExternal> instead of <LinkTo>.

Component API

icon string required
Use this parameter to show an icon. Any icon name is acceptable. icon is required to ensure the component conforms to accessibility best practices.
iconPosition enum
  • leading (default)
  • trailing
Positions the icon before or after the text.
color enum
  • primary (default)
  • secondary
size enum
  • small
  • medium (default)
  • large
text string required
The text of the link. If no text value is defined an error will be thrown.
href
URL parameter that’s passed down to the <a> element.
isHrefExternal boolean
  • false (default)
Controls if the <a> link is external. For security reasons, we add the target="_blank" and rel="noopener noreferrer" attributes to it by default.
route/models/model/query/current-when/replace
Parameters that are passed down as arguments to the <LinkTo>/<LinkToExternal> components.
isRouteExternal boolean
  • false (default)
Controls if the “LinkTo” is external to the Ember engine, in which case it will use a <LinkToExternal> for the @route.
…attributes
This component supports use of ...attributes.

Anatomy

Anatomy of the Standalone Link

Element Usage
Leading Icon* Optional
Text Required
Trailing Icon* Optional
Focus Ring Focus state only

*A Standalone Link should always include an icon

States

Primary

Primary state of the link standalone component

Secondary

Secondary state of the link standalone component

Conformance rating

Conformant

When used as recommended, there should not be any WCAG conformance issues with this component.

Best Practices

Annotations in design

Include annotations of the non-visual experience in your handoff notes. For example:

Annotation of focus order of the link

Interactive transitions

Animations or transitions will not take place if the user has prefers-reduced-motion enabled in their browser.

Applicable WCAG Success Criteria

This section is for reference only. This component intends to conform to the following WCAG Success Criteria:

Support

If any accessibility issues have been found within this component, let us know by submitting an issue.

Related

On this page: