Canopy Breadcrumb — Best Practices

This skill provides usage guidance, dos and don'ts, and input reference for the Canopy lg-breadcrumb component from @legal-and-general/canopy.

Apply this skill whenever you use LgBreadcrumbComponent or lg-breadcrumb.

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Import

import {
  LgBreadcrumbComponent,
  LgBreadcrumbItemComponent,
  LgBreadcrumbItemEllipsisComponent,
} from '@legal-and-general/canopy';

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Variants

page (default)

Use for top-level, full-page contexts. The page variant applies container alignment directly to the host element via CSS (max-width, margin: auto, container padding), aligning it consistently with the page grid. No DOM grid wrapper is added — <ng-content /> is rendered directly.

<lg-breadcrumb variant="page">
  <lg-breadcrumb-item>
    <a href="#">
      <lg-icon name="home-outline"></lg-icon>
      Home
    </a>
  </lg-breadcrumb-item>
  <lg-breadcrumb-item>
    <a href="#">Products</a>
  </lg-breadcrumb-item>
  <lg-breadcrumb-item>
    Pension
  </lg-breadcrumb-item>
</lg-breadcrumb>

embedded

Use when the breadcrumb is placed within another component that already provides grid structure. No container wrapper is added.

<lg-breadcrumb variant="embedded">
  <lg-breadcrumb-item>
    <a href="#">Home</a>
  </lg-breadcrumb-item>
  <lg-breadcrumb-item>
    Current page
  </lg-breadcrumb-item>
</lg-breadcrumb>

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Collapsing Long Trails

When there are more than 3 levels, insert lg-breadcrumb-item-ellipsis manually between items:

<lg-breadcrumb>
  <lg-breadcrumb-item><a href="#">Home</a></lg-breadcrumb-item>
  <lg-breadcrumb-item-ellipsis></lg-breadcrumb-item-ellipsis>
  <lg-breadcrumb-item><a href="#">Category</a></lg-breadcrumb-item>
  <lg-breadcrumb-item>Current page</lg-breadcrumb-item>
</lg-breadcrumb>

This must be added manually — it is not added automatically. Use it sparingly.

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Inputs

LgBreadcrumbComponent

Input	Type	Default	Required	Description
variant	'page' | 'embedded'	'page'	No	Layout variant. page applies container alignment via CSS on the host; embedded renders without any container alignment for use inside other components.

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Layout Tokens

Token	Description
--breadcrumb-gap	Gap between breadcrumb items
--breadcrumb-min-width	Minimum width of the breadcrumb list
--breadcrumb-padding-x	Horizontal padding on the breadcrumb list
--breadcrumb-padding-y	Vertical padding on the breadcrumb list

These are defined by Canopy design tokens and applied automatically.

Link Colour Tokens

Breadcrumb links use the link-mono token set:

Token	State
--link-mono-rest-colour	Default/rest state
--link-mono-hover-colour	Hover state
--link-mono-focus-colour	Focus-visible state
--link-mono-active-colour	Active/pressed state
--link-mono-visited-colour	Visited state

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Dos and Don'ts

Do

1. Do make the first breadcrumb a link to the homepage.
2. Do reflect the user's position in the site's hierarchical structure.
3. Do include the current page label in the breadcrumb trail.
4. Do use embedded when placing the breadcrumb inside a component that already has grid structure.

Don't

1. Don't reflect the user's session history — breadcrumbs are location-based, not history-based.
2. Don't make the current page's breadcrumb a link.
3. Don't use on websites with a shallow or flat structure.
4. Don't duplicate main menu or secondary navigation options.

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Design Constraints

• On mobile, only the one level above the current page is shown — the current page itself is hidden.
• Breadcrumbs are pending brand modernisation.