diff --git a/changes/8492.feature b/changes/8492.feature
index 937a7819a6e..585da7e9807 100644
--- a/changes/8492.feature
+++ b/changes/8492.feature
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
-Adds new logo and updates UI header in `midnight-blue` theme.
\ No newline at end of file
+Adds new logo and updates UI header in `midnight-blue` theme.
+Adds macro for creating navigation links.
+Adds helpers `endpoint_from_url` and `page_is_active`.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ckan/lib/helpers.py b/ckan/lib/helpers.py
index 25afe7e938b..7e0b66ec033 100644
--- a/ckan/lib/helpers.py
+++ b/ckan/lib/helpers.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 from markdown import markdown
 from bleach import clean as bleach_clean, ALLOWED_TAGS, ALLOWED_ATTRIBUTES
 from ckan.common import asbool, config, current_user
-from flask import flash, has_request_context
+from flask import flash, has_request_context, current_app
 from flask import get_flashed_messages as _flask_get_flashed_messages
 from flask import redirect as _flask_redirect
 from flask import url_for as _flask_default_url_for
@@ -739,10 +739,32 @@ def get_flashed_messages(**kwargs: Any):
     return _flask_get_flashed_messages(**kwargs)
 
 
+@core_helper
+def endpoint_from_url(url: str) -> str:
+    try:
+        urls = current_app.url_map.bind("")
+        match = urls.match(url)
+        endpoint = match[0]
+    except RuntimeError:
+        endpoint = ""
+    return endpoint
+
+
 @core_helper
 def page_is_active(
         menu_item: str, active_blueprints: Optional[list[str]] = None) -> bool:
-    '''Returns whether the current link is the active page or not'''
+    '''
+        Returns whether the current link is the active page or not.
+
+        `menu_item`
+            Accepts a route (e.g. 'group.index') or a URL (e.g. '/group')
+        `active_blueprints`
+            contains a list of additional blueprints that should be considered
+            active besides the one in `menu_item`
+    '''
+    if menu_item.startswith("/"):
+        menu_item = endpoint_from_url(menu_item)
+
     blueprint, endpoint = menu_item.split('.')
 
     item = {
diff --git a/ckan/templates-midnight-blue/header.html b/ckan/templates-midnight-blue/header.html
index 2be41ba8eb1..faf0f65fbc3 100644
--- a/ckan/templates-midnight-blue/header.html
+++ b/ckan/templates-midnight-blue/header.html
@@ -94,10 +94,10 @@
                 {% set org_type = h.default_group_type('organization') %}
                 {% set group_type = h.default_group_type('group') %}
 
-                {{ nav.link(dataset_type ~ '.search', h.humanize_entity_type('package', dataset_type, 'main nav') or _('Datasets'), active_blueprints=[dataset_type, dataset_type + '_resource']) }}
-                {{ nav.link(org_type ~ '.index', h.humanize_entity_type('organization', org_type, 'main nav') or _('Organizations'), active_blueprints=[org_type]) }}
-                {{ nav.link(group_type ~ '.index', h.humanize_entity_type('group', group_type, 'main nav') or _('Groups'), active_blueprints=[group_type]) }}
-                {{ nav.link('home.about', _('About')) }}
+                {{ nav.link(h.url_for(dataset_type ~ '.search'), h.humanize_entity_type('package', dataset_type, 'main nav') or _('Datasets'), active_blueprints=[dataset_type, dataset_type + '_resource']) }}
+                {{ nav.link(h.url_for(org_type ~ '.index'), h.humanize_entity_type('organization', org_type, 'main nav') or _('Organizations'), active_blueprints=[org_type]) }}
+                {{ nav.link(h.url_for(group_type ~ '.index'), h.humanize_entity_type('group', group_type, 'main nav') or _('Groups'), active_blueprints=[group_type]) }}
+                {{ nav.link(h.url_for('home.about'), _('About')) }}
               {% endblock %}
             </ul>
           {% endblock %}
diff --git a/ckan/templates-midnight-blue/macros/nav_link.html b/ckan/templates-midnight-blue/macros/nav_link.html
index ede5d6ca33e..1aea7a8ec83 100644
--- a/ckan/templates-midnight-blue/macros/nav_link.html
+++ b/ckan/templates-midnight-blue/macros/nav_link.html
@@ -1,24 +1,23 @@
 {#
     Builds links for navigation
 
-    nav_item  - the name of the defined nav item defined in config/routing as the named route of the same name
+    nav_item   - the URL for the route or 
+                 the named route of the nav item as defined in config/routing
     title      - text used for the link
     icon       - icon name used for link
 
     Example:
 
     {% import 'macros/nav_link.html' as nav %}
-    {{ nav.link('home.about', _('About')") }}
+    {{ nav.link(h.url_for('home.about'), _('About')") }}
 
 #}
-{% macro link(nav_item, title, active_blueprints=[], icon="", url="") %}
+{% macro link(nav_item, title, active_blueprints=[], icon="") %}
 
 {% set active_page = h.page_is_active(nav_item, active_blueprints=active_blueprints) %}
 
-{% set url = url if url else h.url_for(nav_item, id) %}
-
   <li {% if active_page %}class="active"{% endif %}>
-    <a {% if active_page %}aria-current="page"{% endif %} href="{{ url }}">
+    <a {% if active_page %}aria-current="page"{% endif %} href="{{ nav_item }}">
       {% if icon %}
         <i class="fa fa-{{ icon }}"></i>
       {% endif %}