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Icons and SVG Illustrations

We manage our own Icon and Illustration library in the gitlab-svgs repository. This repository is published on npm and managed as a dependency via yarn. You can browse all available Icons and Illustrations here. To upgrade to a new version run yarn upgrade @gitlab/svgs.

Icons

We are using SVG Icons in GitLab with a SVG Sprite. This means the icons are only loaded once, and are referenced through an ID. The sprite SVG is located under /assets/icons.svg.

Our goal is to replace one by one all inline SVG Icons (as those currently bloat the HTML) and also all Font Awesome icons.

Usage in HAML/Rails

To use a sprite Icon in HAML or Rails we use a specific helper function :

sprite_icon(icon_name, size: nil, css_class: '')
  • icon_name Use the icon_name that you can find in the SVG Sprite (Overview is available here).
  • size (optional) Use one of the following sizes : 16, 24, 32, 48, 72 (this will be translated into a s16 class)
  • css_class (optional) If you want to add additional CSS classes

Example

= sprite_icon('issues', size: 72, css_class: 'icon-danger')

Output from example above

<svg class="s72 icon-danger">
  <use xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="/assets/icons.svg#issues"></use>
</svg>

Usage in Vue

GitLab UI, our components library, provides a component to display sprite icons.

Sample usage :

<script>
import { GlIcon } from "@gitlab/ui";

export default {
  components: {
    GlIcon,
  },
};
<script>

<template>
  <gl-icon
    name="issues"
    :size="24"
    class="class-name"
  />
</template>
  • name Name of the Icon in the SVG Sprite (Overview is available here).
  • size (optional) Number value for the size which is then mapped to a specific CSS class (Available Sizes: 8, 12, 16, 18, 24, 32, 48, 72 are mapped to sXX CSS classes)
  • class (optional) Additional CSS Classes to add to the SVG tag.

Usage in HTML/JS

Please use the following function inside JS to render an icon: gl.utils.spriteIcon(iconName)

Loading icon

Usage in HAML/Rails

DANGER: Danger: Do not use the spinner or icon('spinner spin') rails helpers to insert loading icons. These helpers rely on the Font Awesome icon library which is deprecated.

To insert a loading spinner in HAML or Rails use the loading_icon helper:

= loading_icon

You can include one or more of the following properties with the loading_icon helper, as demonstrated by the examples that follow:

  • container (optional): wraps the loading icon in a container, which centers the loading icon using the text-center CSS property.
  • color (optional): either orange (default), light, or dark.
  • size (optional): either sm (default), md, lg, or xl.
  • css_class (optional): defaults to an empty string, but can be useful for utility classes to fine-tune alignment or spacing.

Example 1:

The following HAML expression generates a loading icon’s markup and centers the icon by wrapping it in a gl-spinner-container element.

= loading_icon(container: true)

Output from example 1:

<div class="gl-spinner-container">
  <span class="gl-spinner gl-spinner-orange gl-spinner-sm" aria-label="Loading"></span>
</div>

Example 2:

The following HAML expression generates a loading icon’s markup with a custom size. It also appends a margin utility class.

= loading_icon(size: 'lg', css_class: 'gl-mr-2')

Output from example 2:

<span class="gl-spinner gl-spinner-orange gl-spinner-lg gl-mr-2" aria-label="Loading"></span>

Usage in Vue

The GitLab UI components library provides a GlLoadingIcon component. See the component’s storybook for more information about its usage.

Example:

The following code snippet demonstrates how to use GlLoadingIcon in a Vue component.

<script>
import { GlLoadingIcon } from "@gitlab/ui";

export default {
  components: {
    GlLoadingIcon,
  },
};
<script>

<template>
  <gl-loading-icon inline />
</template>

SVG Illustrations

Please use from now on for any SVG based illustrations simple img tags to show an illustration by simply using either image_tag or image_path helpers. Please use the class svg-content around it to ensure nice rendering.

Usage in HAML/Rails

Example

.svg-content
  = image_tag 'illustrations/merge_requests.svg'

Usage in Vue

To use an SVG illustrations in a template provide the path as a property and display it through a standard img tag.

Component:

<script>
export default {
  props: {
    svgIllustrationPath: {
      type: String,
      required: true,
    },
  },
};
<script>

<template>
  <img :src="svgIllustrationPath" />
</template>