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Cross-Level Navigation

Four navigation components connect every page — vertically, horizontally, and across the hierarchy

01

Four Navigation Components

Every generated page contains up to four navigation components that together form a seamless network. No page is a dead end — users can always navigate up, down, sideways, or back.

📍
Breadcrumbs
Show the hierarchy path: from the L0 overview page through L1 to the current page. Each segment is a link upward.
Position: Nav bar
🧭
Deep-Dive Links
Lead one level deeper. Prominently styled with an orange border. Only visible when the target page actually exists.
Position: Section end
↔️
Sibling Navigation
Pill-shaped links to all pages at the same level. Current page highlighted in orange. Placed at the bottom of each page.
Position: Page bottom
⬅️
Back Button
A subtle link in the hero section that leads to the parent page. Always visible on L1–L3 pages.
Position: Hero section
L0 Developer L1 Topic 🇩🇪 🇬🇧
① Breadcrumb (Nav bar)
Fixed part of the top bar — always visible
② Back Button (Hero)
← Back to Overview
③ Deep-Dive Link (Section end)
LEARN MORE
Topic in Detail →
④ Sibling Navigation (Page bottom)
01 Topic A 02 Current 03 Topic C
02

Breadcrumbs — The Hierarchy Path

Breadcrumbs appear on all L1, L2, and L3 pages in the fixed navigation bar. They show the full path from the L0 overview page to the current page. Every segment is a clickable link — except the current page.

Format examples

L0 Developer L1 Navigation
L0 Developer L1 Orchestrator L2 Phase Detail

Design rule: The level badges (L0, L1, L2, ...) are small and subtle. They are the only place where level numbers are visible to users — they never appear in titles, headings, or link labels.

03

Deep-Dive Links — Go Deeper

Deep-dive links invite the user to explore a topic at the next deeper level. They feature an orange left border and a warm background. But: a deep-dive link is only displayed when two conditions are met.

Condition 1: Page exists
The target page at the next level must have actually been built. A deep-dive link never points to nothing.
Condition 2: Depth profile allows it
The depth profile of the audience must permit the next level. No deep-dive beyond the audience’s maximum.

Label variants (instead of “Deep Dive L2”)

LEARN MORE Default label for general deep-dives
IN DETAIL For technical detail pages
STEP BY STEP For tutorials and walkthroughs

Here is what a deep-dive link looks like in practice (from the Orchestrator page):

<!-- Deep-Dive Link HTML structure --> <a href="../l2/topic_dev_en.html" class="deep-dive-link"> <div class="deep-dive-content"> <span class="deep-dive-label">Learn more</span> <span class="deep-dive-title">Topic title &rarr;</span> <span class="deep-dive-desc">Short description</span> </div> <span class="deep-dive-arrow">&rarr;</span> </a> // CSS classes: .deep-dive-link // Wrapper (<a> tag) .deep-dive-content // Text area (flex-column) .deep-dive-label // Top label (mono, orange) .deep-dive-title // Title (display font) .deep-dive-desc // Description (optional) .deep-dive-arrow // Right arrow // Styling: border-left 4px orange, // background surface-warm, hover effect translateX(4px)

Deep-dive link structure: An <a> element with the class deep-dive-link contains two children: the deep-dive-content block (label, title, optional description) and the deep-dive-arrow arrow. Key visual traits: 4px orange left border, warm background, and the entire block shifts slightly right on hover.

04

Sibling Navigation — Peer Pages

Sibling navigation appears at the bottom of every L1, L2, and L3 page. It shows all pages at the same level as pill-shaped links. The current page is highlighted in orange — so users instantly see where they are and what else is available.

Live example: How the sibling nav of this page looks

01 Orchestrator 02 Helpfulness 03 Pipelines 04 Design System 05 Navigation 06 Templates 07 QA

Purpose: Sibling nav enables horizontal exploration without navigating back to the parent page. Users can jump directly from “Orchestrator” to “Pipelines” — both are L1 siblings under the same Developer L0.

<!-- Sibling Navigation HTML structure --> <div class="sibling-nav"> <div class="sibling-nav-title">More deep-dive pages</div> <div class="sibling-nav-items"> <!-- Other pages: links --> <a href="topic_dev_en.html" class="sibling-nav-link"> <span class="sibling-nav-num">01</span> Topic A </a> <!-- Current page: span (not a link) --> <span class="sibling-nav-link sibling-nav-current"> <span class="sibling-nav-num">02</span> Current </span> </div> </div> // CSS classes: .sibling-nav // Container (border-top) .sibling-nav-link // Pill button (border-radius: full) .sibling-nav-current // Orange highlight .sibling-nav-num // Numbering (mono font)

Sibling nav structure: The container .sibling-nav has a top border separator. Inside are flex-wrapping pills (.sibling-nav-link) as links. The current page uses a <span> instead of <a> and receives the additional class .sibling-nav-current (orange background, white text). Numbering uses monospace font.

05

Audience Switch & Language Links

Two more navigation elements complete the system: The audience switch changes between audiences, while language flags switch between German and English. Both use relative paths — never absolute URLs.

👥
Audience Switch
Only on L0 pages. Shows links to the L0 pages of all other audiences in the same language. Example: from index_dev_en.html to index_mgr_en.html.
L0 only
🌐
Language Flags
On every page. Links to the exact same page in the other language. Always relative within the same folder. Clicking 🇩🇪 switches e.g. from navigation_dev_en.html to navigation_dev_de.html.
Every page

Relative path examples

// Language links (same folder, same level) L0 page: index_dev_en.html index_dev_de.html L1 page: navigation_dev_en.html navigation_dev_de.html L2 page: breadcrumb-detail_dev_en.html breadcrumb-detail_dev_de.html // Breadcrumb links (folder up, then folder in) L1 → L0: ../index_dev_en.html // One folder up L2 → L1: ../l1/orchestrator_dev_en.html // Up, then into l1/ L2 → L0: ../index_dev_en.html // Up to root L3 → L2: ../l2/topic_dev_en.html // Up, then into l2/ // Audience switch (L0 only, same folder) Dev → Mgr: index_mgr_en.html // Same folder Dev → User: index_user_en.html // Same folder // Deep-dive (always into the next level folder) L0 → L1: l1/orchestrator_dev_en.html // Subfolder L1 → L2: ../l2/phase-detail_dev_en.html // Up, then into l2/ L2 → L3: ../l3/detail_dev_en.html // Up, then into l3/

Folder structure: L0 pages live in the root folder (output/). L1 pages in the subfolder l1/, L2 in l2/, L3 in l3/. All relative paths are based on this structure. Since language versions live in the same folder, switching languages is always a simple filename swap with no path navigation.

✏️ Quick check

A deep-dive link should point to an L2 page, but the audience is 📊 Decision-Maker (maximum depth: L1). What happens?

The link is shown but with a warning label
No deep-dive link is shown — no link into nothing
The link is shown and leads to the nearest available page