Global header - Canada.ca design pattern
Mandatory on standard pages
The global header is at the top of each web page from the Government of Canada.

Text version
The global header has the Government of Canada signature in the top left. Under the signature is the theme and topic menu, and under the menu is the breadcrumb trail. The language toggle link is at the rop right. Under the language toggle is the site search box.

Text version
The global header has the Government of Canada signature in the top left. The language toggle link is at the rop right. Under the signature and the language toggle is the site search box. Under the search box is the theme and topic menu. Under the theme and topic menu is the breadcrumb trail.
On this page
Objective
Having the same global header on all pages strengthen the global Canada.ca brand and promotes trust. It also provides a unified experience on the Government of Canada web presence and allows navigation across the broad range of services and information offered.
When to use
The global header should be on all pages from the Goverment of Canada. Some elements are optional in these situations:
- Transactional scenarios: Pages where people are engaged in a transactional process such that mistakenly following other links would result in errors, loss of data or accidental termination of the session.
- Campaigns: Landing pages for external marketing or advertising campaigns. The flexibility in layout allows institutions to match elements of their external campaign with the landing page.
How to implement
If you're not on the Managed Web Service, you can implement the global header by using the Centrally Deployed Templates Solution (CDTS).
Follow these requirements:
Header element | Standard page | Campaign page | Transactional page |
---|---|---|---|
Government of Canada signature (linked to Canada.ca home) | Mandatory | Mandatory | Mandatory, but link to Canada.ca home page is optional |
Language toggle | Mandatory | Mandatory | Mandatory table 1 note 1 |
Site search box | Mandatory | Optional | Optional |
Theme and topic menu | Mandatory | Optional | Optional |
Breadcrumb trail | Mandatory | Optional | Optional |
Background colour (white) | Mandatory | Optional | Mandatory |
Table 1 Notes
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Latest changes
2020-06-25: the small screen version was modified to a slimmer version
- Date modified: