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An official website of the United States government

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Design System

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

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Spinner

Spinners signify that the application is waiting for an asynchronous operation to complete.

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Examples

View interactive React examples in Storybook

Changing the spinner color

To change the color of the spinner, one only has to change the color property of the spinner element. This can be done with the standard Design System utility classes. The color of the spinner also defaults to inherit, so it will take on the color of the text in its parent container.

Using inside buttons

"Filled" mode

To provide more contrast when being rendered over other content, the .ds-c-spinner--filled class can be added to give it an appropriately shaped background with some padding.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Code

React

See Storybook for React guidance of this component.

Web Component

See Storybook for Web Component guidance of this component.

Style customization

The following CSS variables can be overridden to customize Spinner components:

CSS variables for spinner
VariableDefault Core Theme Value
--spinner__background-colorhex value: #ffffff--color-background
--spinner__colorhex value: #262626--color-base
--spinner__color--inversehex value: #ffffff--color-white
--spinner__background-color--inversehex value: #00395e--color-background-inverse

Guidance

When to use

  • To indicate a loading state for quick asynchronous tasks

When to consider alternatives

  • When the process it is waiting for takes a long time. Spinners provide no feedback other than that we're waiting, so long processes can make users nervous that something went wrong. Consider adding descriptive text or another UX pattern entirely.
  • When you are loading a whole page of content. If all you show the user is a spinner, the user may spend several seconds watching the spinner to be surprised with all the content all at once. Consider using a skeleton screenThis link goes to an external site

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     so the user knows what to expect.

Usage

  • If the process takes a long time, use something else.

Accessibility

  • The Spinner element should have an aria-valuetextThis link goes to an external site

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     attribute with a value of loading to provide a human readable text alternative for screen readers.
  • When placed within a parent container, the parent element should include several ARIA attributes: aria-relevant, aria-live, and optionally aria-atomic.
    • aria-relevant may include additions, text, and removals. If a section will have items added or removed, use additions removals. If there will be additions or text changes without explicit removals, use additions text.
    • aria-live should be set to polite for a screen reader to speak the changes whenever the user is idle. aria-live="assertive" should only be used in situations that require a user’s immediate attention.
    • By default, a screen reader will only speak the contents of a changed node, and not the entire contents of the element. Set aria-atomic="true" for cases, such as an address, where a screen reader should read the contents of the entire element.

Learn more

Component maturity

For more information about how we tested and validated our work for each checklist item, read our component maturity documentation.

Accessibility

  • Color

    Meets AA color contrast standards for accessibility and color blindness.
    Complete

  • Forced Colors Mode (FCM)

    While using FCM the components text is legible and improves readability.
    Complete

  • WCAG 2.1 Level AA Conformance

    All Axe checks for WCAG AA compliance have passed.
    Complete

  • Screen readers

    VoiceOver, NVDA, and JAWS screen readers provide concise communication and interaction.
    Complete

  • Keyboard navigation

    Component is fully navigable with a keyboard.
    Complete

Code

  • Storybook

    Component has stories to cover all defined props.
    Complete

  • Responsive

    Component designed to work in all responsive breakpoints.
    Complete

  • Spanish translations

    Includes Spanish translations for default text content.
    Complete

Tokens

  • Code

    Tokens implemented in code.
    Complete

  • Design

    Tokens implemented in the Sketch.
    Complete

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