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An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

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

Inline Error

Inline errors give validation feedback for specific form fields.

Examples

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Code

React

Preact/React documentation for Storybook

Style customization

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

CSS variables for form
VariableDefault Core Theme Value
--form__max-width460px
--form__max-width--small6em
--form__max-width--medium12em
--form-hint__colorhex value: #5a5a5a--color-gray-dark
--form-hint__color--inversehex value: #e9ecf1--color-muted-inverse
--form-error__colorhex value: #e31c3d--color-error
--form-error__color--inversehex value: #f7bbc5--color-error-lighter

Guidance

  • Inline errors are built in to all design-system form fields but can be used on their own to create custom fields.
  • Inline errors should sit either directly above or below the input, depending on the theme defaults.
  • Visually align inline validation messages with the input fields, so people using screen magnifiers can read them quickly.
  • The form field should have an aria-describedby attribute that references the id of the error message.

Content

  • Describe what the user still needs to do in a mandatory field that has been left incomplete or unanswered, or answered incorrectly.
  • Repeat what the form label is asking the user to do, but with slightly more detail.
  • Use the fewest words possible (i.e., don't use "please").
  • Use sentence case.
  • End with a period.

Learn More

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.