Expandable section

An expandable section is a content section with a text toggle that reveals content that is hidden by default.

Accessibility

To implement an accessible PatternFly expandable section:

  • Ensure the expandable section's toggle text is updated based on its current expanded state.
  • Provide unique toggle text for each expandable section if there are multiple on a page.

Testing

At a minimum, an expandable section should meet the following criteria:

  • For example, if an expandable section is collapsed the toggle text should be along the lines of "Show more", while an expanded section should have toggle text along the lines of "Show less".
  • Tab navigates to the next toggle or focusable element, and Shift + Tab navigates to the previous toggle or focusable element.
  • This can be checked with a screen reader, or by checking that the aria-expanded attribute is accurate and updating in the DOM.
  • If multiple expandable sections have the same toggle text, it will be confusing for users navigating via rotor menu when more than 1 toggle is announced as "Show more" with no other context.

React customization

The following React props have been provided for more fine-tuned control over accessibility.

Prop
Applied to
Reason
contentId="[id of the expandable section content]"
ExpandableSection and ExpandableSectionToggle
Adds an id to the ExpandableSection, and links it via the aria-controls attribute of the ExpandableSectionToggle. Required when the isDetached prop is passed in, and both components should have the same value passed in.
toggleId="[id of the expandable section toggle]"
ExpandableSection and ExpandableSectionToggle
Adds an id to the ExpandableSectionToggle, and adds an accessible name based on the toggle's content via the aria-labelledby attribute of the ExpandableSection. Required when the isDetached prop is passed, and both components should have the same value passed in.
isExpanded
ExpandableSection
Sets the aria-expanded attribute of the expandable section toggle, which notifies users of assistive technologies such as screen readers of the current state of the expandable section content. Required when the expandable section is not uncontrolled.
toggleContent="[content for the toggle]" or toggleText="[text for the toggle]"
ExpandableSection
The visible content of the expandable section toggle. The value passed into either prop should be based on the expandable section's current expanded state.
toggleTextCollapsed="[text for a collapsed toggle]" and toggleTextExpanded="[text for an expanded toggle]"
ExpandableSection
The visible content of the expandable section toggle when the expandable section is collapsed or expanded, respectively. These props can be passed in instead of toggleContent or toggleText.
children
ExpandableSectionToggle
The visible content of the expandable section toggle. The value passed in should be based on the expandable section's current expanded state.
isExpanded
ExpandableSectionToggle
Sets the aria-expanded attribute of the expandable section toggle, which notifies users of assistive technologies such as screen readers of the current state of the expandable section content. Required when the expandable section content is expanded, and should always have a boolean value.

HTML/CSS customization

The following HTML attributes and PatternFly classes can be used for more fine-tuned control over accessibility.

Attribute or class
Applied to
Reason
aria-controls="[id of the expandable section content]"
.pf-v6-c-expandable-section__toggle
Links the expandable section toggle and content for assistive technologies. Required when the expandable section content is rendered in the DOM.
aria-expanded="[true or false]"
.pf-v6-c-expandable-section__toggle
Indicates whether the expandable section is expanded (true) or collapsed (false) to assistive technologies. Required.
hidden
.pf-v6-c-expandable-section__content
Hides the expandable section content. Required when aria-expanded="false" is passed in, except for truncate expansion.
aria-labelledby="[id of the expandable section toggle]"
.pf-v6-c-expandable-section__content
Adds an accessible name to the expandable section content based on the toggle content. Required.
role="region"
.pf-v6-c-expandable-section__content
Adds the region role to the expandable section content. Required.
aria-hidden="true"
.pf-v6-c-expandable-section__toggle-icon > i
Removes the accordion toggle icon from the accessibility tree, preventing assistive technologies from potentially announcing duplicate or unnecessary information without visually hiding it. Required.

Further reading

To read more about accessibility with expandable sections, refer to the following resources: