aria-controls
The global aria-controls
property identifies the element (or elements) whose contents or presence are controlled by the element on which this attribute is set.
Description
When an interactive widget or element, be it a combobox, tab, button, etc., is used to adjust or modify another element or component in a document or application, the aria-controls
attribute can be used to programmatically associate the corresponding element or elements with the controlling element. The aria-controls
attribute identifies the element (or elements) whose contents or presence are controlled by the element on which the attribute is set, regardless of what type of interaction initiates the impacted behavior.
A combobox element has aria-controls
set to a value that refers to the element that serves as the popup. The aria-controls
only needs to be set when the popup is visible, but it is valid and easier to program to reference an element that is not visible.
Other examples of controls include:
- The button parts of an accordion widget that toggle the visibility of their associated panel content. Each button may have an
aria-controls
specified, referencing the ID of the element containing the content associated with the invoking control. - An element with a role of
scrollbar
: the scrollbar requires anaria-controls
attribute referencing the ID of the element it controls. - A group of tabs that each display a different tab panel: each element with
role="tab"
has anaria-controls
attribute referencing its associatedtabpanel
.
Example
In this tabs example, each tab controls one tabpanel:
<div class="tab-interface">
<div role="tablist" aria-label="Sample Tabs">
<span
role="tab"
aria-selected="true"
aria-controls="panel-1"
id="tab-1"
tabindex="0">
First Tab
</span>
<span
role="tab"
aria-selected="false"
aria-controls="panel-2"
id="tab-2"
tabindex="-1">
Second Tab
</span>
<span
role="tab"
aria-selected="false"
aria-controls="panel-3"
id="tab-3"
tabindex="-1">
Third Tab
</span>
</div>
<div id="panel-1" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0" aria-labelledby="tab-1">
<p>Content for the first panel</p>
</div>
<div
id="panel-2"
role="tabpanel"
tabindex="0"
aria-labelledby="tab-2"
class="display-none">
<p>Content for the second panel</p>
</div>
<div
id="panel-3"
role="tabpanel"
tabindex="0"
aria-labelledby="tab-3"
class="display-none">
<p>Content for the third panel</p>
</div>
</div>
Note: ARIA only modifies the accessibility tree for an element, identifying how assistive technology can present the content to users. ARIA doesn't change any implicit functionality or styling.
Values
id
list-
A space-separated list of one or more ID values referencing the elements being controlled by the current element
Associated interfaces
Element.ariaControlsElements
-
The
ariaControlsElements
property is part of each element's interface. Its value is a list ofElement
s corresponding to the ID values specified in thearia-controls
attribute.
Associated roles
Used in ALL roles.
Specifications
Specification |
---|
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) # aria-controls |