Expandable section

An expandable section component is used to support progressive disclosure in a form or page by hiding additional content when you don't want it to be shown by default. An expandable section can contain any type of content such as plain text, form inputs, and charts.

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:

The expandable section's toggle text updates based on its current expanded stateFor 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".
Standard keyboard navigation can be used to navigate between an expandable section toggle and other focusable elements within or outside of the expandable section.Tab navigates to the next toggle or focusable element, and Shift + Tab navigates to the previous toggle or focusable element.
Expandable sections can be collapsed or expanded via keyboard by pressing Space or Enter on the toggle.
A user navigating via a screen reader will be notified of the current expanded state, as well as when that state gets updated.This can be checked with a screen reader, or by checking that the aria-expanded attribute is accurate and updating in the DOM.
If there are multiple expandable sections on a page, each toggle is given unique text or accessible nameIf 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-v5-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-v5-c-expandable-section__toggle`	Indicates whether the expandable section is expanded (true) or collapsed (false) to assistive technologies. Required.
`hidden`	`.pf-v5-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-v5-c-expandable-section__content`	Adds an accessible name to the expandable section content based on the toggle content. Required.
`role="region"`	`.pf-v5-c-expandable-section__content`	Adds the region role to the expandable section content. Required.
`aria-hidden="true"`	`.pf-v5-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.

Expandable section

Accessibility

Testing

React customization

HTML/CSS customization

Further reading