Components
Accordion
An accordion is a list of headers that hide or reveal additional content when selected.
Passed WCAG 2.1 AA
Borderless
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
- This is a list item
- Another list item
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Bordered
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
- This is a list item
- Another list item
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Multiselectable
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
- This is a list item
- Another list item
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
<h3 class="site-preview-heading">Borderless</h3>
<div class="usa-accordion">
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="true"
aria-controls="a1"
>
First Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="a1" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
</p>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="a2"
>
Second Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="a2" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
</p>
<ul>
<li>This is a list item</li>
<li>Another list item</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="a3"
>
Third Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="a3" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the
consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed
by law.
</p>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="a4"
>
Fourth Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="a4" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported
by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
</p>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="a5"
>
Fifth Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="a5" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in
actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be
subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb;
nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against
himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use,
without just compensation.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<h3 class="site-preview-heading">Bordered</h3>
<div class="usa-accordion usa-accordion--bordered">
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="true"
aria-controls="b-a1"
>
First Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="b-a1" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
</p>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="b-a2"
>
Second Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="b-a2" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
</p>
<ul>
<li>This is a list item</li>
<li>Another list item</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="b-a3"
>
Third Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="b-a3" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the
consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed
by law.
</p>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="b-a4"
>
Fourth Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="b-a4" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported
by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
</p>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="b-a5"
>
Fifth Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="b-a5" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in
actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be
subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb;
nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against
himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use,
without just compensation.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<h3 class="site-preview-heading">Multiselectable</h3>
<div class="usa-accordion usa-accordion--multiselectable" data-allow-multiple>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="true"
aria-controls="m-a1"
>
First Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="m-a1" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
</p>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="m-a2"
>
Second Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="m-a2" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
</p>
<ul>
<li>This is a list item</li>
<li>Another list item</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="m-a3"
>
Third Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="m-a3" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the
consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed
by law.
</p>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="m-a4"
>
Fourth Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="m-a4" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported
by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
</p>
</div>
<h4 class="usa-accordion__heading">
<button
type="button"
class="usa-accordion__button"
aria-expanded="false"
aria-controls="m-a5"
>
Fifth Amendment
</button>
</h4>
<div id="m-a5" class="usa-accordion__content usa-prose">
<p>
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in
actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be
subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb;
nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against
himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use,
without just compensation.
</p>
</div>
</div>
Guidance
When to use the accordion component
- If users will only need a few specific pieces of content within a page.
- If you have only a small space to display a lot of content.
When to consider something else
- If users need to see most or all of the information on a page. Use well-formatted text instead.
- If there is not enough content to warrant condensing. Accordions increase cognitive load and interaction cost because users have to make decisions about what headers to click on.
Usability guidance
- Make the entire header selectable. Allow users to click anywhere in the header area to expand or collapse the content; a larger target is easier to manipulate.
- Give interactive elements enough space. Make sure interactive elements within the collapsible region are far enough from the headers that users don’t accidentally trigger a collapse. (The exact distance depends on the device.)
Accessibility guidance
- Code header areas in the accordion as buttons. Using a
<button type="button">
assures accordions are usable with both screen readers and keyboards. - Use meaningful expansion button labels. Aim for informative labels like “Explore federal compliance checklists” rather than vague ones like “Click here.”
- Use
aria-controls
to associate an accordion button with its related content. Connect an accordion button control with its appropriate content region by referencing the controlled element’sid
in the button’saria-controls
attribute. - Use unique ids. Each button has a unique name,
aria-controls="[id]"
, that associates the control with the appropriate region by referencing the controlled element’sid
. - Accordions use javascript to set the
hidden
values of their content areas. Each content area will have itshidden
attribute set by the component, depending on its corresponding button’saria-expanded
attribute. To ensure your content is accessible in the event that the JavaScript does not load or is disabled, you should not manually sethidden
on any of your content areas. - You do not need to add text alternatives for the collapsed and expanded accordion states. These states are set programmatically with JavaScript.
Using the accordion component
- Multiselectable accordion groups. Add the
data-allow-multiple
attribute to anyusa-accordion
to create a multiselectable accordion group. - Default an accordion button to open. Add the
aria-expanded="true"
attribute to anyusa-accordion__button
to have that section open by default at page load. When the accordion is initialized, the JavaScript will automatically addaria-expanded="false"
attribute to all other accordion buttons.
Accordion settings
Variable | Description |
---|---|
$theme-accordion-background-color
|
Background color of the accordion content. |
$theme-accordion-border-width
|
Border width of the bordered accordion. |
$theme-accordion-border-color
|
Border color of the bordered accordion. |
$theme-accordion-button-background-color
|
Background color of the accordion button. |
$theme-accordion-font-family
|
Font family of the accordion. |
Accordion variants
Variant | Description |
---|---|
|
Display a border around accordion content. |
Accessibility test status
The USWDS team did 23 tests based on WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria.
Total tests |
Passed
|
Passed with exceptions
|
Conditional
|
Failed
|
---|---|---|---|---|
23 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Overview of recent accessibility test results:
Learn more on the accordion accessibility tests page.
Package
-
Package usage:
@forward "usa-accordion";
- Dependencies:
uswds-fonts
,usa-icon
Latest updates
Meaningful code and guidance updates are listed in the following table:
Date | USWDS version | Affects | Description |
---|---|---|---|
2024-01-17 | K.A. |
|
Added WCAG compliance tag and accessibility test status section. More information: uswds-site#2138 |
2023-11-20 | K.A. |
|
Added |
2023-06-09 | 3.5.0 |
|
Added two new settings to customize accordion background colors.
You can now customize accordion button and content background colors with |
2023-06-09 | 3.5.0 |
|
Adjusted forced colors mode styles to ensure visibility and increase consistency.
Forced colors mode styles will now override the background color and display the button outline. The open/close icons now dynamically adjust to |
2022-08-05 | 3.1.0 |
|
Breaking
Added |
2022-08-01 | K.A. |
|
Updated documentation to reference the correct multi-select attribute.
The attribute was updated from |
2022-04-28 | 3.0.0 |
|
Breaking Updated to Sass module syntax and new package structure. More information: uswds#4656 |
2021-03-17 | 2.11.1 |
|
Restored missing white icons.
Restored |
2021-03-02 | 2.10.2 |
|
Introduced white |