react-router index route always active

Question

I am trying to style my navigation by using the react activeClassName attribute. So far it works as expected, but there is a problem - my first nav links points to the root route(/). So even when on another URL it will register that URL (for example /skills) and root as active (so 2 menu items get styled).

Is there an easy workaround for this? Should I just define the Root route as something else (for example /home)?

My header:

import React, { PropTypes } from 'react';
import { Link, IndexLink } from 'react-router';

const Header = () => {
    return (
        <div className="header">
            <div className="headerImage"></div>
            <ul className="headerNav">
                <li className="headerNavLink"><Link to="/" activeClassName="activeLink">introduction</Link></li>
                <li className="headerNavLink"><Link to="/skills" activeClassName="activeLink">skills</Link></li>
                <li className="headerNavLink"><Link to="/portfolio" activeClassName="activeLink">portfolio</Link></li>
            </ul>
        </div>
    );
};

export default Header;

routes.js:

import React from 'react';
import { Route, IndexRoute } from 'react-router';
//Import app
import App from './components/App';
//Import pages
import IntroductionPage from './components/introduction/IntroductionPage';
import SkillsPage from './components/skills/SkillsPage';
import PortfolioPage from './components/portfolio/PortfolioPage';

//Define routes
export default (
    <Route path="/" component={App}>
        <IndexRoute component={IntroductionPage} />
        <Route path="skills" component={SkillsPage} />
        <Route path="portfolio" component={PortfolioPage} />
    </Route>
);

So to clarify, I would like my home route to not be active when on another route.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Answer 1

I'd like to reference the docs for React Router (react-router-dom, currently v5) and the sources. This is the up-to-date way to implement this:

exact: bool

When true, the active class/style will only be applied if the location is matched exactly.

<NavLink exact to="/profile">
  Profile
</NavLink>

Here is a real world working example:

<ul class="nav flex-column">
    <li class="nav-item">
      <NavLink className="nav-link" activeClassName="active" to="/" exact>Home</NavLink>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item">
      <NavLink className="nav-link" activeClassName="active" to="/calendar">Calendar</NavLink>
    </li>
    <li class="nav-item">
      <NavLink className="nav-link" activeClassName="active" to="/page">Page</NavLink>
    </li>
</ul>