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Dropdown

No accessibility annotations are needed for dropdowns, but keep these considerations in mind if you are modifying Carbon or creating a custom component.

Accessibility testing status

For every latest release, Carbon runs tests on all components to meet the accessibility requirements. These different statuses report the work that Carbon has done in the back end. These tests appear only when the components are stable.

Latest version: ^1.51.0 | Framework: React (@carbon/react)

ComponentAccessibility testStatusLink to source code
DropdownTest(s) that ensure the initial render state of a component is accessible.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
Github link
Tests that ensure additional states of the component are accessible. This could be interactive states of a component or its multiple variants.
Some tests are incomplete, in progress, invalid, or temporarily skipped.
Tests that ensure focus is properly managed, and all interactive functions of a component have a proper keyboard-accessible equivalent.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
This manual testing ensures that the visual information on the screen is properly conveyed and read correctly by screen readers such as JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA.
A human has manually tested this component, e.g. screen reader testing.
MultiselectTest(s) that ensure the initial render state of a component is accessible.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
Github link
Tests that ensure additional states of the component are accessible. This could be interactive states of a component or its multiple variants.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
Tests that ensure focus is properly managed, and all interactive functions of a component have a proper keyboard-accessible equivalent.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
This manual testing ensures that the visual information on the screen is properly conveyed and read correctly by screen readers such as JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA.
A human has manually tested this component, e.g. screen reader testing.
Combo boxTest(s) that ensure the initial render state of a component is accessible.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
Github link
Tests that ensure additional states of the component are accessible. This could be interactive states of a component or its multiple variants.
Some tests are incomplete, in progress, invalid, or temporarily skipped.
Tests that ensure focus is properly managed, and all interactive functions of a component have a proper keyboard-accessible equivalent.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
This manual testing ensures that the visual information on the screen is properly conveyed and read correctly by screen readers such as JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA.
A human has manually tested this component, e.g. screen reader testing.
Fluid dropdownTest(s) that ensure the initial render state of a component is accessible.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
Github link
Tests that ensure additional states of the component are accessible. This could be interactive states of a component or its multiple variants.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
Tests that ensure focus is properly managed, and all interactive functions of a component have a proper keyboard-accessible equivalent.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
This manual testing ensures that the visual information on the screen is properly conveyed and read correctly by screen readers such as JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA.
Test data is either not available or not applicable for this component state.
Fluid multiselectTest(s) that ensure the initial render state of a component is accessible.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
Github link
Tests that ensure additional states of the component are accessible. This could be interactive states of a component or its multiple variants.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
Tests that ensure focus is properly managed, and all interactive functions of a component have a proper keyboard-accessible equivalent.
Passes all automated tests with no reported accessibility violations.
This manual testing ensures that the visual information on the screen is properly conveyed and read correctly by screen readers such as JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA.
Test data is either not available or not applicable for this component state.
Fluid combo boxTest(s) that ensure the initial render state of a component is accessible.
Automated or manual testing has been temporarily deferred.
Github link
Tests that ensure additional states of the component are accessible. This could be interactive states of a component or its multiple variants.
Automated or manual testing has been temporarily deferred.
Tests that ensure focus is properly managed, and all interactive functions of a component have a proper keyboard-accessible equivalent.
Test data is either not available or not applicable for this component state.
This manual testing ensures that the visual information on the screen is properly conveyed and read correctly by screen readers such as JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA.
Automated or manual testing has been temporarily deferred.

What Carbon provides

Carbon bakes keyboard operation into its components, improving the experience of blind users and others who operate via the keyboard. Carbon incorporates many other accessibility considerations, some of which are described below.

Keyboard interactions

A dropdown component and its variants multiselect and combo box are reached by Tab, with navigation of the options by Up and Down arrow keys. However, the keys for opening the component and selecting its options are different for each variant.

Tab to dropdown then operate with arrow keys

Dropdowns are in the tab order and operable by Up and Down arrow keys, once opened.

Dropdown

The default dropdown opens with Enter, Space, or Down arrow, with focus moving to the currently selected option. Arrow keys change options, and any option with focus is selected with Space or Enter, which also closes the dropdown. Pressing Esc or Tab closes a dropdown without changing the selected option.

Dropdowns are activated and their options selected with Space or Enter keys. Esc closes without changing option

The Space and Enter keys can be used to open dropdowns and also select an option with focus. Esc cancels and closes the interaction.

Multiselect

The multiselect opens with the Enter or Space keys, which are also used to toggle the selection of any option. Once items are selected, a tag appears in the field, showing a numerical representation of the number of items selected along with an ‘x’. Pressing Esc closes the multiselect. Pressing Delete while focus is in the collapsed field will clear all selected options.

Space and Enter keys open multiselects and toggle the selection of checkbox options. Esc closes.

Space and Enter keys open multiselects and toggle the state of the checkboxes in the list. Esc closes the list.

Combo box

The combo box’s operation is quite different, since it is a combination of a text input and a dropdown. Enter or the Up or Down arrow keys will open the list of options, as will typing any character or string of characters (which will also filter the list to only show items that match the typed string). Pressing Esc will clear the input and collapse the list. Pressing Enter will select a highlighted option and collapse the list. (If nothing is highlighted in the list, pressing Enter will toggle the combo box open and closed.) Space cannot be used for selecting, as pressing it will submit a space character into the filter string.

The Enter key opens and selects items in a combo box. Arrow keys can open and navigate the options. Esc clears the input and closes.

Combo boxes can be opened with the Enter or Up and Down arrow keys. Enter selects the highlighted option in the list. Esc clears the input and closes the combo box.

Development considerations

Keep these considerations in mind if you are modifying Carbon or creating a custom component.

  • The dropdown and multiselect variant use a button with aria-haspopup="listbox".
  • The combo box uses an input with role="combo box", aria-autocomplete="list", aria-haspopup="listbox" and autocomplete="off".
  • The combo box uses aria-controls for a div with role="listbox".
  • All variants use aria-expanded to track the state of the listbox.
  • See the ARIA authoring practices for combo box for more considerations.