Short Guide on Using the ARIA-haspopup (Property)

Description

Indicates the availability and type of interactive popup element, such as menu or dialog, that can be triggered by an element.

A popup element usually appears as a block of content that is on top of other content. Authors MUST ensure that the role of the element that serves as the container for the popup content is menu, listbox, tree, grid, or dialog, and that the value of aria-haspopup matches the role of the popup container.

For the popup element to be keyboard accessible, authors SHOULD ensure that the element that can trigger the popup is focusable, that there is a keyboard mechanism for opening the popup, and that the popup element manages focus of all its descendants as described in Managing Focus.

The aria-haspopup property is an enumerated type. User agents MUST treat any value of aria-haspopup that is not included in the list of allowed values, including an empty string, as if the value false had been provided. To provide backward compatibility with ARIA 1.0 content, user agents MUST treat an aria-haspopup value of true as equivalent to a value of menu.

Assistive technologies SHOULD NOT expose the aria-haspopup property if it has a value of false.

Note: A tooltip is not considered to be a popup in this context.

What are the token values of aria-haspopup?

There are 7 defined token values in aria-haspopup (property):

• Aria-haspopup=”false”, indicates the element does not have any popup.
• Aria-haspopup=”true”, indicates that popup is menu
• Aria-haspopup=”menu”, indicates that popup is menu
• Aria-haspopup=”dialog”, indicates that popup is dialog
• Aria-haspopup=”grid”, indicates that popup is grid
• Aria-haspopup=”listbox”, indicates that popup is listbox
• Aria-haspopup=”tree”, indicates that popup is true

Browser Compatibility For aria-haspopup

Screen Reader Support For aria-haspopup

aria-haspopup Example

Using the aria-haspopup attribute on a dropdown menu will help assistive technologies, such as screen readers, identify that there are submenus present.

<nav role="navigation" aria-label="example with dropdowns">
  <ul class="with-dropdowns">
    <li>
      <a href="#">Home</a>
    </li>
    <li>
      <a href="/about" aria-haspopup="true">About</a>
      <ul aria-hidden="true" aria-label="submenu">
        <li>
          <a href="/about/#who-we-are">Who we are</a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a href="/about/#what-we-do">What we do</a>
        </li>
        <li>
          <a href="/about/#why">Why</a>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </li>
    <li>
      <a href="#">Blog</a>
    </li>
    <li>
      <a href="#">Contact</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
</nav>

Characteristics

Related Concepts

• aria-controls
• User Agent Accessibility Guidelines [UAAG10] conditional content

Used in Roles

• All elements of the base markup

Value

• token
  One of a limited set of allowed values. An explicit value of undefined for this type is the equivalent of providing no value.
• false (default)
  • Indicates the element does not have a popup.
• true
  • Indicates the popup is a menu.
• menu
  • Indicates the popup is a menu.
• listbox
  • Indicates the popup is a listbox.
• tree
  • Indicates the popup is a tree.
• grid
  • Indicates the popup is a grid.
• dialog
  • Indicates the popup is a dialog.

Semantic HTML

No HTML element equivalent.

Reference

• W3C (opens new window)
• A11Y Support
• MDN Web Docs