This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.
The HTML <menu> element represents a group of commands that a user can perform or activate. This includes both list menus, which might appear across the top of a screen, as well as context menus, such as those that might appear underneath a button after it has been clicked.
| Content categories | Flow content. If the element's children include at least one <li> element: Palpable content.
|
| Permitted content |
If the element is in the list menu state: flow content, or alternatively, zero or more occurrences of If the element is in the context menu state: zero or more occurrences, in any order, of |
| Tag omission | None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory. |
| Permitted parents | Any element that accepts flow content. |
| Implicit ARIA role | list
|
| Permitted ARIA roles | directory, group, listbox, menu, menubar, none, presentation, radiogroup, tablist, toolbar or tree
|
| DOM interface | HTMLMenuElement
|
Attributes
This element includes the global attributes.
label'- The name of the menu as shown to the user. Used within nested menus, to provide a label through which the submenu can be accessed. Must only be specified when the parent element is a
<menu>in the context menu state. type- This attribute indicates the kind of menu being declared, and can be one of two values.
context' : Indicates the popup menu state, which represents a group of commands activated through another element. This might be as a button menu referenced by amenuattribute of a<button>element, or as context menu for an element with acontextmenuattribute. This value is the default if the attribute is missing and the parent element is also a<menu>element.toolbar: Indicates the toolbar state, which represents a toolbar consisting of a series of commands for user interaction. This might be in the form of an unordered list of<li>elements, or, if the element has no<li>element children, flow content describing available commands. This value is the default if the attribute is missing.
Usage notes
The <menu> and <ul> elements both represent an unordered list of items. The key difference is that <ul> primarily contains items for display, whilst <menu> is intended for interactive items, to act on.
An HTML menu can be used to create context menus (typically activated by right-clicking another element) or toolbars.
Context menus consist of a <menu> element which contains <menuitem> elements for each selectable option in the menu, <menu> elements for submenus within the menu, and <hr> elements for separator lines to break up the menu's content into sections. Context menus are then attached to the element they're activated from using either the associated element's contextmenu attribute or, for button-activated menus attached to <button> elements, the menu attribute.
Toolbar menus consist of a <menu> element whose content is described in one of two ways: either as an unordered list of items represented by <li> elements (each representing a command or option the user can utilize), or (if there are no <li> elements), flow content describing the available commands and options.
This element was deprecated in HTML4, but reintroduced in HTML5.1 and the HTML living standard. This document describes the current Firefox implementation. Type 'list' is likely to change to 'toolbar' according to HTML5.1.
Examples
DeprecatedThis feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.
HTML
<!-- A <div> element with a context menu --> <div contextmenu="popup-menu"> Right-click to see the adjusted context menu </div> <menu type="context" id="popup-menu"> <menuitem>Action</menuitem> <menuitem>Another action</menuitem> <hr/> <menuitem>Separated action</menuitem> </menu>
CSS
div {
width: 300px;
height: 80px;
background-color: lightgreen;
}
Result
Menu button
Menu buttons haven't been implemented in any known browsers yet. The type attribute on the <menu> element is now obsolete.
<menuitem> element is obsolete.
HTML
<!-- A button, which displays a menu when clicked. --> <button type="menu" menu="popup-menu"> Dropdown </button> <menu type="context" id="popup-menu"> <menuitem>Action</menuitem> <menuitem>Another action</menuitem> <hr/> <menuitem>Separated action</menuitem> </menu>
Result
Toolbar
Toolbar menus haven't been implemented in any known browsers yet.
HTML
<!-- A context menu for a simple editor, - containing two menu buttons. --> <menu type="toolbar"> <li> <button type="menu" menu="file-menu">File</button> <menu type="context" id="file-menu"> <menuitem label="New..." onclick="newFile()"> <menuitem label="Save..." onclick="saveFile()"> </menu> </li> <li> <button type="menu" menu="edit-menu">Edit</button> <menu type="context" id="edit-menu"> <menuitem label="Cut..." onclick="cutEdit()"> <menuitem label="Copy..." onclick="copyEdit()"> <menuitem label="Paste..." onclick="pasteEdit()"> </menu> </li> </menu>
Result
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living StandardThe definition of '<menu>' in that specification. | Living Standard | No change from latest snapshot, Unknown |
| HTML 5.1The definition of '<menu>' in that specification. | Recommendation |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
See also
- Other list-related HTML Elements:
<ol>,<ul>,<li>,<hr>, and the obsolete<dir>. - The
contextmenuglobal attribute can be used on an element to refer to theidof amenuwithtype="context".
<menu> by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.
