Accessible hamburger buttons with out JavaScript

2023-01-27 07:48:14

Over the previous couple of a long time hamburger buttons have change into the de facto commonplace to broaden bigger menus on smaller units. They’re so ubiquitous that each consumer instantly is aware of what they’re when seen within the prime left or proper nook, which makes them consumer interface ingredient selection. They’re additionally very straightforward to implement with JavaScript: take heed to the onclick occasion of the button and add or take away a category so you’ll be able to fashion the menu with CSS accordingly.

So, if it’s that straightforward to do, why hassle with a HTML and CSS solely answer? Effectively, there are two causes. Firstly, people can’t load or execute the JavaScript on your page more often than you think (everyone has JavaScript, right?). However extra importantly, it is extremely doubtless that your consumer sees a SSR (server facet rendered) web page served as pure HTML initially, earlier than the JavaScript is loaded.

On SSR pages you need your navigation to work instantly – earlier than any JavaScript is loaded.

I’m certain you’ve skilled it earlier than. You navigated to a web site, it appears to have totally loaded, and also you press the hamburger button… however nothing occurs. You try this repeatedly till lastly the JavaScript finishes loading within the background and the menu opens.

Even for those who don’t care concerning the few those that typically aren’t capable of execute the JavaScript in your web site (which… you in all probability ought to) there’s good purpose to create a hamburger button with out JavaScript anyway and take away that frustration.

The hamburger button on this web site is constructed with the very same approach described on this article. Be certain your browser window is sufficiently small so you’ll be able to see it, and take a look at it!

We will probably be including some extra components afterward to ensure the location stays accessible for individuals utilizing display readers, however the core idea to create a pure HTML & CSS hamburger button is sort of straightforward. It consists of those components:

An (invisible) checkbox above the HTML of our menu with the menustate id
A <label> ingredient that acts because the hamburger button and toggles the checkbox by utilizing the for="menustate" attribute
CSS to point out or conceal the menu relying on whether or not the checkbox is checked by utilizing the general sibling combinator

A really fundamental instance appears like this:

<enter aria-hidden="true" kind="checkbox" id="menustate" />
<nav>
  <label for="menustate">
    <span class="open">≡</span>
    <span class="shut">×</span>
  </label>
  <ul> <li>House</li> <li>Contact</li> <li>About</li> </ul>
</nav>

<fashion>
  #menustate,
  nav ul,
  nav .shut {
    /* Cover the checkbox, menu and shut button by default */
    show: none;
  }
  #menustate:checked ~ nav :is(ul, .shut) {
    /*
      Present the menu and shut button when the menu is open
      (when the #menustate enter subject is checked)
    */
    show: block;
  }
  #menustate:checked ~ nav .open {
    /* Cover the open button when the menu is open */
    show: none;
  }
</fashion>

You possibly can see it in motion on codepen (there’s one other hyperlink to a full implementation within the conclusion).

(Animating the hamburger to remodel into the X form is just not within the scope of this text, however here’s a quick abstract: add an svg with the hamburger icon. As a substitute of exhibiting or hiding one icon or the opposite, translate and rotate the strains with CSS when the menu is open, so the strains type an “X”. Use the CSS transition property to animate the strains. Examine the supply of the hamburger button on this web site to see the way it’s completed precisely.)

This already obtained us 90% of the way in which, however it has a evident challenge: it isn’t accessible.

We should always all the time attempt to make our web sites as accessible as doable to ensure that everybody has one of the best expertise doable.

Put your self within the sneakers of a visually impaired individual and assume how irritating it should be to get on a web page that doesn’t will let you open the principle menu!

However even when accessibility is just not required in your specific case (you could be constructing an inside web site the place there aren’t any visually impaired individuals) you need individuals to have the ability to navigate your web page with the keyboard.

So how will we get there?

Open and Shut Buttons

Essentially the most accessible approach is to make use of two separate anchor components (<a>) that may function the open and shut buttons for the menu.

We’ll make use of the same however barely completely different approach than with the label. As a substitute of the buttons toggling the checked property of our enter subject, the open hyperlink may have a href="#menustate” which implies that our enter subject will change into the goal. Components which have the identical ID because the URL fragment could be chosen in CSS with the target pseudo class. The shut hyperlink however may have a href="#” and thus take away the goal.

We are able to then change our CSS selector so it is not going to solely goal the enter subject when it’s :checked but in addition when it’s the :goal:

:is(#menustate:checked, #menustate:goal) ~ nav :is(ul, .shut) {
  /*
    Choose both a <ul> or .shut ingredient contained in the nav when it’s preceded
    by the #menustate:checked or #menustate:goal.
  */
}

Be sure you conceal the shut or open anchor ingredient when the menu is closed or opened (respectively) with show: none. This makes certain display readers received’t announce them and so they received’t be accessible with the keyboard.

These two hyperlinks should not meant to be clicked or pressed although (they solely function targets for the keyboard or display readers). That’s why they’re positioned in the very same spot as our hamburger button (the <label> ingredient) however behind it.

To verify display readers can correctly announce what these components are for, we assign position="button" to each and add <span> components which can be only visible to screen readers inside each hyperlinks that function descriptive texts.

(To check it, you’ll be able to quickly take away the label out of your web page an click on the hyperlinks. All the pieces ought to behave the identical, with the one distinction, that now you get #menustate and # appended to the URL every time they’re pressed.)

We might name it a day right here. We’ve a label that toggles the checkbox when pressed and serves as our hamburger button. After which now we have open and shut buttons that make the checkbox a :goal for accessibility.

There is only one minor enchancment that may make this good. The anchor hyperlinks work nice, however they’ve two downsides:

They may power the web page to scroll again to the highest (relying in your use case that could be fascinating however this is not going to all the time be what you need)
They add the #menustate and # fragments to your URL when pressed which simply isn’t fairly.

So as to repair each points, we’ll do some progressive enhancement with JavaScript!

On this case it’s positive to make use of JavaScript as a result of it’s solely an enhancement. The hamburger button works positive with out it.

Relying on the framework you are utilizing the precise code for this may look completely different, however in any case it’s quite simple to implement: you add a click on occasion listener to your hyperlinks, be sure that the browser doesn’t truly use the href by utilizing occasion.preventDefault() and toggle the checked worth of the enter subject as a substitute.

For the open button the code might seem like this:

const clickHandler = (occasion) => {
  occasion.preventDefault()
  doc.querySelector(‘#menustate’).checked = true;
}

There’s a bit of labor concerned in implementing this correctly, however on condition that that is the most important navigation of your web site it’s effectively price it. It’s doubtless that the hamburger button is the very first thing your guests attempt to press and if that fails they’ll change into annoyed.

Yow will discover the total implementation of the button in this codepen. You possibly can copy the code and adapt the styling to your web site.

Be happy to examine the code on this web page as effectively, to see how the HTML and CSS is carried out for the animation.

And don’t overlook to take a short break. Keep wholesome!

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