UI shell left panel
Color
Note: The UI Shell does not currently use the Carbon theme tokens; theming options for the shell will be available in the future. All color used in the UI Shell is from the IBM Design Language palette.
Class | Property | Color value |
---|---|---|
.bx--side-nav__navigation | background color | White |
.bx--side-nav__link | text color | Gray 70 |
.bx--side-nav__submenu | text color | Gray 70 |
.bx--side-nav__submenu-chevron | fill | Gray 70 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item | text color | Gray 70 |
.bx--side-nav__icon | fill | Gray 70 |

UI shell side-nav example.
Link
Class | Property | Color value |
---|---|---|
.bx--side-nav__link:hover | background color | Gray 10-hover |
.bx--side-nav__link:hover | text color | Gray 100 |
.bx--side-nav__link:focus | border | Blue 60 |
.bx--side-nav__link:active | background color | Gray 30 |
.bx--side-nav__link:active | text color | Gray 100 |
.bx--side-nav__link--current | background color | Gray 30 |
.bx--side-nav__link--current | text color | Gray 100 |
:before | background color | Blue 60 |

Link states
Sub-menu
Class | Property | Color value |
---|---|---|
.bx--side-nav__submenu:hover | background color | Gray 10-hover |
.bx--side-nav__submenu:hover | text color | Gray 100 |
.bx--side-nav__submenu:focus | border | Blue 60 |
.bx--side-nav__submenu:active | background color | Gray 30 |
.bx--side-nav__submenu:active | text color | Gray 100 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item:hover | background color | Gray 30 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item:hover | text color | Gray 100 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item:focus | border | Blue 60 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item:active | background color | Gray 30 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item:active | text color | Gray 100 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item--current | background color | Gray 30 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item--current | text color | Gray 100 |
:before | background color | Blue 60 |

Sub-menu states
Icon
Class | Property | Color value |
---|---|---|
.bx--side-nav__icon:hover | fill | Gray 100 |
.bx--side-nav__icon:active | fill | Gray 100 |
.bx--side-nav__icon--current | fill | Gray 100 |
Typography
Menu labels and text should be set in sentence case.
Class | Font-size (px/rem) | Font-weight | Type token |
---|---|---|---|
.bx--side-nav__link | 14 / 0.875 | SemiBold / 600 | $heading-01 |
.bx--side-nav__submenu | 14 / 0.875 | SemiBold / 600 | $heading-01 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item | 14 / 0.875 | Regular / 400 | $body-short-01 |
Structure
The panel spans the full height of the browser and is fixed to the left edge of the window.
Class | Property | px/rem | Spacing token |
---|---|---|---|
.bx--side-nav__navigation | width | 256 / 16 | – |
.bx--side-nav__link | height | 32 / 2 | – |
.bx--side-nav__link | padding left, padding right | 16 / 1 | $spacing-05 |
.bx--side-nav__submenu | height | 32 / 2 | – |
.bx--side-nav__submenu | padding left, padding right | 16 / 1 | $spacing-05 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item | height | 32 / 2 | – |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item | padding left | 32 / 2 | $spacing-07 |
.bx--side-nav__menu-item | padding right | 16 / 1 | $spacing-05 |
:before | width | 4 / 0.25 | – |
.bx--side-nav__icon | size | 16 / 1 | – |

Structure and spacing measurements for the side-nav | px | rem.

Structure and spacing measurements for side-nav with icons | px | rem.