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Icon usage

Types

There are four types of icons: Outlined, Filled, Off, and Contained.

Outlined

Outlined icons are icons with a standard outline.

Use Outlined icons by default.

Example of outlined icons

Filled

Filled icons are icons with a solid fill and are indicated by -fill in the icon name.

Use Filled icons to show a toggled state or for contrast with Outlined icons.

Example of filled icons

Indicating a toggled state

For objects that can be toggled on/off, show the Outlined icon for off and the Filled icon for on.

Example of toggled state icons

Using for contrast

If contrast against other icons is important, use Filled for the more important icon(s).

For example, when showing one failure in a list of 20 otherwise successful builds, use x-square-fill while keeping the remaining icons in the Outlined style so the failure is more prominent.

Example of contrasting icons

Off

Off icons are icons including a strike-through and are indicated by -off in the icon name.

Use Off icons to indicate something is disabled, unavailable, or will return a toggled icon off.

Example of off icons

Indicating a disabled or unavailable icon

When needing to indicate an action is disabled or unavailable, consider pairing an Off icon with the color style Foreground/Disabled and cursor property value not-allowed.

Return toggled state back off

If an object is toggled on and it can be toggled off, consider showing the Off icon on hover to indicate that clicking the icon again will toggle the object back off.

Example of toggling icons off

Contained

Contained icons are icons with a containing shape and are indicated by their shape type in the icon name, e.g., -circle, -square, etc.

Use contained icons for emphasis in the hierarchy.

Examples of contained icons

If an object can have multiple states, use a Contained icon for the overall parent state and the Outlined icon(s) for the children’s state(s).

Example of contained icons in context

Animated

Animated icons are icons with an animated effect that show a transition between two states.

Example of animated icons

Use animated icons to communicate activity happening in the background. For example, when an object is updated, the loading icon could appear after the save action is triggered, indicating that the changes are in progress.

Example of best practice for animated icons

Sizes

Icons are optimized for two icon sizes: 16px and 24px.

Use 16px icons by default in product interfaces and 24px icons for empty states.

Resizing icons

There may be cases where 16px and 24px sizes don’t fit a design. Icons can be resized but be aware that the design is not optimized for resizing. Therefore, only resize icons as necessary and sparingly.

Example of available icon sizes

States

Icons frequently represent different states within product interfaces, most commonly as states of an object or states of feedback.

States of an object

Some objects can return a state, e.g., a Build, Run, Cluster, etc. Objects are typically displayed in lists or as cards and include their state when presented to the user.

Examples of object states

States of feedback

Feedback is presented in response to user interaction, such as a displaying a success message after submitting a form or a warning when a user nears their usage limit.

Examples of feedback states

Common icons

Some icons represent common actions within our products.

Editing actions

Examples of common edit icons

Examples of common navigation icons

Help actions

  • Use learn-link when linking to tutorials.

  • Use docs-link when linking to documentation pages and installation guides.

  • Use support when referencing HashiCorp support.

Examples of common help icons

Migrating from Structure

Choosing the correct icon

When migrating icons from Structure, reference our mapping of icon names between Structure and Helios.

Choosing the correct size

Structure icon size Helios icon size
<= 20px 16px
>= 21px 24px*

*If 24px seems too large, consider using the 16px icon and reworking the interface for a better fit.

Resources

Installation

Icons can be used in many ways. The package can be installed as an Ember addon for the convenience of using a component with strong defaults. It can also be consumed in React applications via direct import of the SVG file or as a standalone React/SVG icon component.

Using icons in Ember apps

Install the ember-flight-icons addon.

yarn add @hashicorp/ember-flight-icons

Because this addon exposes a data-test-icon helper, we recommend installing ember-test-selectors which strips out all data-test-* attributes for production builds.

Using icons in React apps

To use icons in a React application, install the @hashicorp/flight-icons package and import the icons as either inline SVGs or as a standalone React/SVG component.

For more details about the decision to add this functionality, visit this pull-request.

Installing the flight-icons package

To install, run:

yarn install @hashicorp/flight-icons

Importing icons as inline SVGs

Single icons can be imported and used directly as SVG files using <InlineSvg> provided by @hashicorp/react-components.

Since this is just an SVG asset, no props can be passed. You should refer to the <InlineSvg> documentation to know how to apply color and size to the SVG icon.

// import the SVG file (using 'require')
const iconArrowRight = require('@hashicorp/flight-icons/svg/arrow-right-24.svg?include');
// or import the SVG file (using 'import')
import iconArrowRight from '@hashicorp/flight-icons/svg/arrow-right-24.svg?include';

// elsewhere in the file
<InlineSvg src={iconArrowRight} />

// alternatively you can also use a similar approach
<InlineSvg src={require('@hashicorp/flight-icons/svg/arrow-right-24.svg?include')} />

Importing icons as React/SVG components

Single icons can be imported and used directly as standalone React/SVG components:

// import the React/TypeScript file (using 'require')
const { IconArrowRight24 } = require('@hashicorp/flight-icons/svg-react/arrow-right-24');
// or import the React/TypeScript file (using 'import')
import { IconArrowRight24 } from '@hashicorp/flight-icons/svg-react/arrow-right-24';

// elsewhere in the file
<IconArrowRight24 />

How to use icons

The most basic invocation requires only the @name property to be passed with a value matching an existing name in the Icon library.

<FlightIcon @name="alert-circle" />

It renders to this (where the id will be unique each time):

<svg
    id="icon-ember115"
    class="flight-icon icon-alert-circle display-inline"
    width="16"
    height="16"
    viewBox="0 0 16 16"
    xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
    fill="currentColor"
    aria-hidden="true"
    data-test-icon="alert-circle"
>
    <use href="/@hashicorp/ember-flight-icons/icons/sprite.svg#alert-circle-16"></use>
</svg>

Color

The default value is currentColor which uses the inherited text color as the icon color. When setting a custom value, we recommend using one of the pre-defined variables to ensure consistency with our design language:

<FlightIcon @name="zap" @color="var(--brand)" />

Other accepted values include named colors and color values themselves (e.g., hex, rgb, etc).

<FlightIcon @name="zap" @color="rebeccapurple" />
<FlightIcon @name="zap" @color="rgb(46, 113, 229)" />

Size

The default size is 16px. To use the alternative 24px icon size, set the @size value:

<FlightIcon @name="zap" @size="24" />

Stretched

To have the icon fill the parent container (width: 100%, height: 100%, display: block), set the @stretched attribute to true:

<div class="doc-icon-demo--constrain-max-width">
    <FlightIcon @name="zap" @size="24" @stretched={{true}} />
</div>

isInlineBlock

To change the default display from inline-block to block, set @isInlineBlock to false:

<FlightIcon @name="triangle" @isInlineBlock={{false}} />
<FlightIcon @name="triangle-fill" @isInlineBlock={{false}} />

Aligning icons

Since the FlightIcon component has an inline-block display value by default (changeable using the @isInlineBlock argument), this means that the icon behaves like an inline element. So, if you want to vertically align it in relation to other sibling elements, you will have to use CSS to achieve the expected result.

For example, to visually center an icon with a generic text node, you will need to use a parent flex container with align-items: center.

Avoid using vertical-align: middle

Just setting vertical-align: middle in the parent container doesn’t necessarily achieve a vertical alignment.

This is because the middle alignment is not calculated in relation to the whole text “block” but to its “x-height”. To learn more, read about how vertical-align works in CSS.

Animated icons

Note on accessibility

A prefers-reduced-motion media query will automatically disable the animation if users set this preference in their environment.

In Ember apps

Animated icons (e.g., "loading" and "running") are animated by default, meaning no additional properties are needed.

<FlightIcon @name="loading" @size="24" />

In React apps

To use the icons which are meant to be animated (e.g., “loading” and “running”), import the CSS that controls the icons’ animation:

// the path here depends if you’re using 'svg-react' or 'svg' icons 
@import ~@hashicorp/flight-icons/svg-react/animation.css';

Then declare them the same way you would with any other icon.

// if you’re using the 'svg-react' icons
import { IconLoading16 } from '@hashicorp/flight-icons/svg-react/loading-16'
<IconLoading16 />

// if you’re using the 'svg' icons
import svgLoading16 from '@hashicorp/flight-icons/svg/loading-16.svg?include'
<InlineSvg src={svgLoading16} />

Component API

Name
name
Type
string
Required
Required
Description
The name of the icon you wish to use. If the value does not match an existing icon name, an error will be thrown. Search for existing icon names in the Icon library.
Name
color
Type
string
Default
  • currentColor (default)
Description
The @color argument can be used to change the color. It works by setting the value of the icon SVG’s fill property.
Name
size
Type
number
Values
  • 16 (default)
  • 24
Description
Sets the size of the icon in pixels. Only two sizes are supported. (Setting a non-standard size will cause the SVG to render at the specified size but it will be invisible.)
Name
stretched
Type
boolean
Default
  • false (default)
Description
Determines whether the icon will stretch to fill the parent container. Setting it to true will make the icon have a height and width of 100% and a display of block.
Name
isInlineBlock
Type
boolean
Default
  • true (default)
Description
Sets the display style for the icon. Setting it to false will make the icon have a display of block.
Name
title
Type
string
Description
Use to add accessible text to standalone icons. This will also change the aria-hidden value to false instead of the default value of true.

Conformance rating

Conformant

When used as recommended, there should not be any accessibility issues with this component.

Browser accessibility support

Accessibility support for SVGs is inconsistent across browsers and assistive technology. Currently, the best practice is to set the aria-hidden attribute to true on the SVG itself (as we do by default for the FlightIcon component). This means that the icon (both the singular icon and the icon component) will need to be used in context. The icons themselves are for presentation purposes only and should never be used on their own.

However, as a temporary bridge, while we work to provide the accessible components in the design system, we have provided the ability to add a title element to the Ember component by defining a value for the @title property. This is a temporary measure, and we strongly encourage UI engineering teams to work with their designers and plan to convert any standalone icon use.

Examples of correct use

<button aria-label="Check activity">
    <FlightIcon @name="activity" />
</button>
<h2>
    Activity report <FlightIcon @name="activity" />
</h2>