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Stable

Tabs

Tabs make it easy to view and navigate stacked panels of related content. They are especially useful when you need to show a lot of content in a small space.

Installation

bash
npm install @nib-components/tabs

Usage

jsx
import {Tabs, Tab, TabList, TabPanel} from '@nib-components/tabs';

This package contains a number of components built on top of the react-tabs library built by React.

Tabs

The wrapping component.

This is an implementation of the react-tabs Tabs component.

TabList

The list of tabs. If tabs do not fit within the container space on one line, tabs become horizontally scrollable.

Gradients are conditionally added to offer visual affordance.

This component is where we add our own custom props for styling.

This is an implementation of the react-tabs TabList component.

Tab

The individual tab component.

This is an implementation of the react-tabs Tab component.

TabPanel

The content related to the tab. Only one is visible at a time.

We do not supply any styling to the TabPanel component to support a wide range of implementations.

This is an implementation of the react-tabs TabPanel component.

Interactive demo

jsx

Props

Tabs

The following props are in addition to the react-tabs Tabs props.

PropTypeDefaultDescription
subtitlestringA subtitle added below the Tab title. Note: If one Tab uses a subtitle, then all Tabs must use a subtitle.
collapseBelowstring"xs" "sm" "md" "lg" "xl" "xxl" "xxxl"Tabs will be collapsed to stack view below the breakingpoint.
collapsedbooleanfalseToggles the first tab to be expanded on initial page load for mobile breakpoints. Only applies where collapseBelow is set.
showBorderbooleanfalseToggles the border on each tab. We recommend enabling this prop on white or nearWhite backgrounds, to ensure users recognize inactive tabs as being interactive.
multiExpandedbooleanfalseWhen collapseMode is set,allowing multiple tabs to be expanded at once. It has no impact above the breakpoint.

TabList

The following props are in addition to the react-tabs TabList props.

PropTypeDefaultDescription
centerbooleanfalseAbove the lg breakpoint, when tabs do not take up the full width of the TabList they are left-aligned. This cannot be used alongside the fill prop.
fillbooleanfalseAbove the lg breakpoint, we can force the tabs to expand to take up the full width of the TabList by setting the fill prop to true. This cannot be used alongside the center prop.

Tab

The following props are in addition to the react-tabs Tabs props.

PropTypeDefaultDescription
truncatebooleanfalseTruncates Tab titles below a max-width (set per breakpoint). A value of ‘false’ will cause Tabs to grow to fit the Title string. Subtitles will always truncate when they exceed the width of the parent tab.

TabPanel

See react-tabs documentation for TabPanel props.

Design

By default, tabs are left aligned (note that this refers to the tab itself and not the tab label and supporting text which are left aligned on mobile and centered above the set desktop breakpoint). Tabs can also be set to centre themselves within the TabList, or can be set to fill the entire horizontal space.

To assist user understanding, as a default, there must always be one tab pre-selected, and the panel below it must be visible. Only a single content panel can be shown at a time. Tabs should always be placed above the content they relate to, never underneath. Additionally, the order of the tabs from left to right should never change, only the content panel should change.

You can use a minimum of two tabs at a time, but should be sure to only use a single row of tabs. Each of these things provide the visual cues and context to help a user understand tabs and their related content.

As inactive Tabs are transparent, please consider using the showBorder prop to increase the visibility of the tabs on a white or nearWhite background.

Responsive design

The collapseBelow prop swaps the Tabs out for an Accordion below the specified breakpoint. By default this is undefined and the Tabs are retained for all screen sizes.

Icons

Tabs should not include icons - we do not currently support adding icons to communicate the type of content a tab represents.

Touch UI

The tap area of the tabs are above the minimum recommended size requirements as referenced in Apple's Human Interface Guidelines.

Labels

Tab labels should provide clear and concise explanations of the content within. They should be no longer than one or two words and should be accurate in their description.

Each tab's content is independently categorised and mutually exclusive of the content of other tabs. Be sure to check your tabs make sense when read in isolation, especially in the context of screen reader usage.

Supporting text

In most cases we discourage the use of supporting text as the label itself should be well considered and provide enough context to the user. However if the supporting text is implemented (using the subtitle prop), then it should always be used to directly support the context of the label.

Accessibility

If the tabs are partially visible and if it is clicked, it will be scrolled to the centered of the view.

If you are using a screen reader with Javascript turned on, you should be able to navigate the tabs pattern in the following way:

  • You can use left/right arrow, or up/down arrow to switch tabs
  • You can also use the TAB key to focus the tabs

The tab panel should have a heading to reduce confusion for people using screen readers, though this heading can be visually hidden.