Description

@MichaelMarcialis has been leading the visual design conversation for EuiBreadcrumb. Quoting from his comment in the open discussion:

Assuming we wish to maintain the minimalistic nature of these breadcrumbs (which I personally do), the first areas that come to mind where we could apply such visual affordance for linked vs. non-linked breadcrumbs are font weight and color.

Currently, it looks like we use a font weight of 500 for all breadcrumbs. The current/active breadcrumb uses our default text color, while all other breadcrumbs use our subdued text color. On hover/focus of a linked breadcrumb, an underline decoration is added. Without hovering/focusing, the user won't know if a breadcrumb is a link or not.

Perhaps we could update these styles with the following subtle changes to accommodate for a light affordance prior to the user attempting to hover/focus:

• All breadcrumbs switch to 400 font weight, except the current/active breadcrumb (which stays at the current 500).
• Linked breadcrumbs switch to using the default text color (instead of subdued).

It's subtle, but I think it's enough of an offset to indicate to users that something is different about them, without hurting the minimalism of the component.

Items discussed in team meeting 14 November

• In our nav, we have elements that are not links, it's a header, and it's valid
• If it is just an element that gives user's context (like a heading in the breadcrumb list), then there is nothing wrong with it being a non-linked element.
  • Thinking of situations like a heading "APM" being okay as a plain LI in the breadcrumb, and "Alerts" being the current page.
• Breadcrumbs have 3 possible states:
  • Breadcrumbs that are linked
  • Breadcrumbs that is not linked and not clickable
  • Terminal element, that is not clickable

### Visual design tasks
- [x] Finalize visual designs for the three identified states
- [x] Review visual designs for accessibility success criteria
- [x] Gather desired information architecture guidance for breadcrumbs