Examples

Guidance

When to use

• If you have sub-sections of a page, and there's the need to only show one sub-section at a time.

When to consider alternatives

• If you have more than four tabs. Consider using a different pattern if your content requires being split into more than four panels.
• If the panel contents can be displayed at once. This will improve the scanability of your page's content and it's more likely the user will be able to find what they're looking for. Typography, including clear section headers, should be enough to allow the user to navigate the page.

Usage

• Avoid overflowing tabs to new lines. If the tabs can't fit on one row on small screens, consider using utility classes to apply additional responsive styles or use a different pattern.
• Tab labels should be descriptive of their content and set the user's expectations.
• Tab labels should be short — aim for no more than two words.

Accessibility

• Use anchor links (<a>) to create tabs. This allows direct linking, supports progressive enhancement, and preserves default browser behavior like opening tabs in a new window.
  Note: You’ll need to implement logic to select the appropriate tab based on the current URL.
• Markup should include proper ARIA roles and attributes to ensure accessibility:
  • Each tab (<a>):
    role="tab", aria-selected, aria-controls
  • Tablist container:
    role="tablist", aria-label (not applied by default — use the ariaLabel prop.)
  • Each tab panel:
    role="tabpanel", aria-labelledby

Accessibility testing

Keyboard navigation

• Users should be able to navigate to each tab using the Tab key and navigate backwards using Shift + Tab.
• Pressing Enter should activate the focused tab.
• When a tab has focus, arrow keys (←/→) should move focus between tabs.
• A visible focus indicator should clearly show which tab is currently focused or selected.

Screen reader

Our Tabs component applies the correct semantic roles (tablist, tab, and tabpanel) to ensure proper screen reader support. When implemented correctly, screen readers announce:

• The label for each tab which is derived by the tab prop on each TabPanel.
• Its role (e.g., "tab").
• Its position within the set (e.g., "Tab 1 of 3").
• Whether the tab is selected.

Zoom magnification

To ensure tab content remains visible when the screen is magnified, the widths of tabs and tab panels are defined using percentages. As the page is magnified, the height of the tabs increases and content reflows to fit the new dimensions.

Code

React

Review Storybook for React guidance of this component.

Web Component

Go to Storybook for Web Component guidance of this component.

Style customization

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

Related patterns

• Vertical navigation

Learn more

• How Tabs Should Work

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• Simple ARIA tab interface

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Component maturity