Component

Contextual guidance

Provides a container with additional information when focusing an input field (e.g. input, textarea)

This component is build to be used with an input field passed in as a block and must reference its ID using the html_for attribute.

On tablet and desktop, the guidance container is set to float on the page and prevent other elements from moving around (e.g. pushing next fields down the page).

Search for usage of this component on GitHub.

How it looks (preview) (preview all)

Writing a news title

The title must make clear what the content offers users. Use the words your users do to help them find this. Avoid wordplay or teases.

How to call this component

<%= render "govuk_publishing_components/components/contextual_guidance", {
  html_for: "news-title",
  title: "Writing a news title",
  guidance_id: "news-title-guidance",
  content: sanitize("<p>The title must make clear what the content offers users. Use the words your users do to help them find this. Avoid wordplay or teases.</p>
    ")
} do %>
  <!-- example content -->
  <%= render "govuk_publishing_components/components/input", { 
      label: {
        text: "News title"
      },
      name: "news-title",
      id: "news-title",
      describedby: "news-title-guidance"
    } 
  %>
  <!-- end of example content -->
<% end %>

Accessibility acceptance criteria

The component must:

  • be hidden by default
  • be visible when the associated input field if focused
  • stay visible until another input field with guidance is being focused

Links in the component must:

  • accept focus
  • be focusable with a keyboard
  • be usable with a keyboard
  • indicate when they have focus
  • change in appearance when touched (in the touch-down state)
  • change in appearance when hovered
  • be usable with touch
  • be usable with voice commands
  • have visible text
  • have meaningful text

Other examples

Standard options

This component uses the component wrapper helper. It accepts the following options and applies them to the parent element of the component. See the component wrapper helper documentation for more detail.

  • id - accepts a string for the element ID attribute
  • data_attributes - accepts a hash of data attributes
  • aria - accepts a hash of aria attributes
  • classes - accepts a space separated string of classes, these should not be used for styling and must be prefixed with js-
  • margin_bottom - accepts a number from 0 to 9 (0px to 60px) using the GOV.UK Frontend spacing scale (defaults to no margin)
  • role - accepts a space separated string of roles
  • lang - accepts a language attribute value
  • open - accepts an open attribute value (true or false)
  • hidden - accepts an empty string, ‘hidden’, or ‘until-found’
  • tabindex - accepts an integer. The integer can also be passed as a string.
  • dir - accepts ‘rtl’, ‘ltr’, or ‘auto’.