#866: Exclusive accordion (<details name="">)

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Opened Jun 22, 2023

こんにちは TAG-さん!

I'm requesting a TAG review of exclusive accordions (<details name="">).

This feature adds a name attribute to the HTML details element so that multiple details elements (disclosure widgets) can be linked into an exclusive accordion, i.e., a widget where opening one of the details elements closes the others.

Further details:

  • I have reviewed (and was previously involved in editing) the TAG's Web Platform Design Principles
  • Relevant time constraints or deadlines: none specifically, though as noted in some of the above urls, one of the ideas behind this feature is to avoid some of the problems with CSS Toggles by instead working on small features that can move faster.
  • The group where the work on this specification is currently being done: Open UI Community Group and WHATWG
  • The group where standardization of this work is intended to be done (if current group is a community group or other incubation venue): WHATWG
  • Major unresolved issues with or opposition to this specification:
    • There are still a few unresolved issues discussed in the HTML PR, though I wouldn't characterise them as major.
    • There are existing issues with the <details> element that I hope to work on in parallel, falling into two categories:
      • Accessibility: There are a number of accessibility issues with the <details> and <summary> elements (really mostly relating to <summary>). While there are a bunch of links in different issues trackers, I'm currently working on a document trying to describe and categorize these problems that I hope to be able to share within a few weeks. I do hope to make some progress on these issues in parallel with this work, although I also don't think it's realistic to promise to "fix everything", but I do think it feels like there's a realistic path towards making significant improvements. These do represent real risk since it's possible this feature could increase usage of <details> and <summary> and thus expose these problems to more users.
      • Styleability: A major reason that <details> and <summary> aren't used as widely as they could be is insufficient styleability. I've started a document on what needs to be improved and how. I also hope to work on this in parallel, though I think it's worth trying to avoid getting these fixes landed too far in advance of the accessibility fixes.
  • This work is being funded by: Google

You should also know that the current state of the prototype can be tested in current Chrome Canary or Dev, or in the future in Beta (within a week) or Stable (in a month or so) once they reach version 116, but only if you enable "Experimental Web Platform Features" in chrome://flags .

We'd prefer the TAG provide feedback as (please delete all but the desired option): 💬 leave review feedback as a comment in this issue and @-notify @dbaron

Discussions

2023-07-mos-eisley

Minutes

Tess: @plinss, @atanassov, and I took a look at this during the TAG's vF2F this week. See their comments above for specific bits of feedback. Overall, we're really happy with the simple, incremental approach you've taken here to add this feature to HTML. It fits right in with the existing use of name="" for radio buttons and checkboxes, and it doesn't require authors to change the existing structure of their documents. Thanks for bringing this to us for review!