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An official website of the United States government

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An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Theme:

Design system switcher

Version:

Design system switcher

Theme:

Design system switcher

Version:

Design system switcher

Accordion

An accordion is a list of headers that hide or reveal additional content when selected.

Examples

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Code

React

Preact/React documentation for Storybook

Style customization

The following CSS variables can be overridden to customize Accordion components:

CSS variables for accordion
VariableDefault Core Theme Value
--accordion__colorhex value: #262626--color-base
--accordion__background-colorhex value: #f2f2f2--color-gray-lightest
--accordion__background-color--hoverhex value: #d9d9d9--color-border
--accordion__border-colorhex value: #f2f2f2--color-gray-lightest
--accordion__border-radius0
--accordion__border-width4px
--accordion-button__colorhex value: #262626--color-base
--accordion-content__background-colorhex value: #ffffff--color-white

Guidance

When to use

  • Use an accordion to see an overview of multiple, related sections of content
  • Use an accordion to show and hide sections as needed

When to consider alternatives

Accordions hide content from users and not everyone will notice them or understand how they work. Accordions increase cognitive load and interaction cost, as users have to make decisions about what headers to click on.

  • Don't use an accordion if users need to see most or all of the information on a page.
  • Don't use an accordion if there is not enough content to warrant condensing.

Usage

  • Make the entire header selectable. Allow users to click anywhere in the header area to expand or collapse the content; a larger target is easier to manipulate.
  • Give interactive elements enough space. Make sure interactive elements within the collapsible region are far enough from the headers that users donโ€™t accidentally trigger a collapse.

Accessibility

Keyboard support for the Accordion header includes:

  • Enter or Spacebar - Changes the collapsed/expanded state of the associated accordion panel
  • Arrow Down - Moves focus to the next accordion header
  • Arrow Up - Moves focus to the previous accordion header

Component maturity

This component meets 100% of our maturity criteria.

What does this mean?

Each component is tested against the following items to gauge the component's maturity. When using incomplete components, consider the unmet criteria as applied to your product.

For more information about how we tested and validated our work for each checklist item, read our component maturity documentation.