Navigation
Menubar
A row of Menus, such as File, Edit and View, with the arrow keys to move between them. It's the APG's menubar.
- Element
<slab-menubar>- Built on
[role=menubar]- As Markdown
- menubar.md
Example
Here's a styled version, <slab-styled-menubar>. It's not
in the package — it's an example of what you can build with the
headless element. Copy it and make it yours at the
bottom of this page. Switch to "As it ships" to see the same markup
with the headless element and no CSS at all. That's your starting
point.
<slab-styled-menubar label="Job">
<slab-styled-menu label="Job">
<button class="styled-menubar-button" slot="anchor" type="button">Job</button>
<slab-styled-menu-item>New job</slab-styled-menu-item>
<slab-styled-menu-item>Duplicate job</slab-styled-menu-item>
<slab-styled-menu-item disabled>Archive job</slab-styled-menu-item>
</slab-styled-menu>
<slab-styled-menu label="Pour">
<button class="styled-menubar-button" slot="anchor" type="button">Pour</button>
<slab-styled-menu-item>Schedule a pour</slab-styled-menu-item>
<slab-styled-menu-item>Order a mix</slab-styled-menu-item>
</slab-styled-menu>
<slab-styled-menu label="Report">
<button class="styled-menubar-button" slot="anchor" type="button">Report</button>
<slab-styled-menu-item>Export report</slab-styled-menu-item>
<slab-styled-menu-item>Print report</slab-styled-menu-item>
</slab-styled-menu>
</slab-styled-menubar>
<slab-menubar label="Job">
<slab-menu label="Job">
<button class="styled-menubar-button" slot="anchor" type="button">Job</button>
<slab-menu-item>New job</slab-menu-item>
<slab-menu-item>Duplicate job</slab-menu-item>
<slab-menu-item disabled>Archive job</slab-menu-item>
</slab-menu>
<slab-menu label="Pour">
<button class="styled-menubar-button" slot="anchor" type="button">Pour</button>
<slab-menu-item>Schedule a pour</slab-menu-item>
<slab-menu-item>Order a mix</slab-menu-item>
</slab-menu>
<slab-menu label="Report">
<button class="styled-menubar-button" slot="anchor" type="button">Report</button>
<slab-menu-item>Export report</slab-menu-item>
<slab-menu-item>Print report</slab-menu-item>
</slab-menu>
</slab-menubar>
Usage
pnpm add slab-elements lit
<script type="module">
import 'slab-elements/menubar.js';
</script>
<slab-menubar label="Editor">
<slab-menu label="File">
<button slot="anchor">File</button>
<slab-menu-item>New</slab-menu-item>
<slab-menu-item>Open…</slab-menu-item>
</slab-menu>
<slab-menu label="Edit">
<button slot="anchor">Edit</button>
<slab-menu-item>Undo</slab-menu-item>
<slab-menu-item>Redo</slab-menu-item>
</slab-menu>
</slab-menubar>
Each Menu in it is an ordinary Menu, with its own label, anchor and Menu Items. To do something when a Menu Item is chosen, listen for its “click”. Disable a Menu by disabling its anchor.
Keyboard
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Left, Right | On an anchor, moves to the previous or next anchor, wrapping and skipping disabled ones. |
| Home, End | On an anchor, moves to the first or last anchor. |
| Enter, Space, Down | On an anchor, opens its Menu at the first Menu Item. |
| Up | On an anchor, opens its Menu at the last Menu Item. |
| Left, Right | In an open Menu, closes it and opens the previous or next Menu, wrapping and skipping disabled. |
| Up, Down | In an open Menu, moves to the previous or next Menu Item. |
| Escape | Closes the open Menu and returns focus to its anchor. |
| Tab | Closes the open Menu and leaves the menubar. Coming back, focus returns to the last anchor. |
Behavior
A menubar with no visual styles: a row of Menus, such as File, Edit and View, each opened from its anchor, with the arrow keys to move between them.
It's the APG's menubar. Each Menu's anchor becomes a [role=menuitem] in a [role=menubar], and Tab reaches the menubar once. The rest is the Menu's own: Enter, Space and Down open it at its first Menu Item, Up at its last, and Escape closes it.
Exactly one anchor is tabbable: the one most recently focused or opened, or the first that isn't disabled. Left and Right move focus between the anchors, wrapping at each end and skipping disabled ones, and Home and End go to the first and last. While a Menu is open, Left and Right close it and open the one beside it instead, and pointing at another anchor does the same, as a desktop menubar does.
Style it through its part, each Menu through its own, and the anchors directly.
API
<slab-menubar>
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
label
Required
|
string |
Names the menubar. | |
version
|
string |
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
menus
Read-only
|
Menu[] |
| Signature | Description |
|---|---|
focus(options?: FocusOptions): void
|
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
(default)
|
Menu |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
menubar
|
The Menus |
Copy and own it
<slab-styled-menubar> isn't in the package. It's an example —
copy it into your project and change whatever you want. Under the
hood, it's just the headless element, subclassed, with
styles set. That's it. Keyboard, focus, ARIA, forms, and
events all come from the headless element, and the styles only reach
in through ::part() and :state(), same as
yours would.
To use it, copy these files, swap the tag in
@customElement() for one of your own, and import it.
tokens.styles.ts holds the colors and fonts every styled
example shares, so you only need it once.
menubar.ts
import { customElement } from 'lit/decorators.js';
import Menubar from 'slab-elements/menubar.js';
import styles from './menubar.styles.js';
import tokens from './tokens.styles.js';
declare global {
interface HTMLElementTagNameMap {
'slab-styled-menubar': StyledMenubar;
}
}
/**
* Menubar, styled: a paper bar with an ink border and a hard shadow, holding
* styled Menus.
*/
@customElement('slab-styled-menubar')
export default class StyledMenubar extends Menubar {
static override styles = [tokens, styles];
}
menubar.styles.ts
import { css } from 'lit';
/*
The anchors are in each Menu rather than slotted into the menubar, so they
can't be reached from here. They're styled where they're written, as the
examples' buttons are.
*/
export default css`
[part~='menubar'] {
background-color: var(--paper);
border: var(--border);
box-shadow: var(--shadow);
display: flex;
gap: 0.25rem;
inline-size: fit-content;
padding: 0.25rem;
}
`;
tokens.styles.ts
import { css } from 'lit';
/*
The styled components' palette and type, taken from the logo: ink for the
courses, ember for the base, paper behind them.
Each is a short alias for a "--slab-styled-*" property, with the default as
its fallback. Retheming is "--slab-styled-ember" and the rest on ":root",
which every shadow root inherits. Were the defaults declared under those
names here instead, each host's own declaration would shadow the page's.
Each default is "light-dark()", so the components follow the page's
"color-scheme": "dark" for dark, "light" for light, and "light dark" to
follow the operating system. Ink and paper trade places in the dark, so
ink is always the text and paper always what's behind it. Contrast is given
as light, then dark.
*/
export default css`
:host {
/* Secondary text. 6.8:1 and 6.9:1 on paper. */
--ash: var(--slab-styled-ash, light-dark(#5e5a55, #a8a19a));
--border: 2px solid var(--ink);
/* Behind disabled and read-only controls, and hovered rows. */
--chalk: var(--slab-styled-chalk, light-dark(#f4f1ec, #2b2926));
/*
The logo's orange, brighter in the dark. 4.25:1 and 5.2:1 on paper is
enough for borders, fills and large text, but not always for small text,
which takes "--ember-deep".
*/
--ember: var(--slab-styled-ember, light-dark(#d9492a, #ec5f3b));
/*
Orange for small text on paper, and for paper text on it. 5.7:1 and
7.4:1.
*/
--ember-deep: var(--slab-styled-ember-deep, light-dark(#b3381a, #ff8566));
--font-body: var(
--slab-styled-font-body,
'IBM Plex Sans',
system-ui,
sans-serif
);
--font-display: var(
--slab-styled-font-display,
'Zilla Slab',
rockwell,
'Roboto Slab',
serif
);
--font-mono: var(
--slab-styled-font-mono,
'IBM Plex Mono',
ui-monospace,
monospace
);
--ink: var(--slab-styled-ink, light-dark(#1c1c1c, #f4f1ec));
--paper: var(--slab-styled-paper, light-dark(#fff, #1a1918));
/* The hard, offset shadow a raised surface casts. */
--shadow: 4px 4px 0 var(--ink);
}
`;