Technique H85:Using OPTGROUP to group OPTION elements inside a SELECT

Applicability

HTML and XHTML pages that collect user input.

This technique relates to 1.3.1: Info and Relationships (Sufficient when used with Making information and relationships conveyed through presentation programmatically determinable using the following techniques: ).

Description

The objective of this technique is to group items in a selection list. A selection list is a set of allowed values for a form control such as a multi-select list or a combo box. Often, selection lists have groups of related options. Those groups should be semantically identified, rather than simply delimiting the groups with "dummy" list entries. This allows user agents to collapse the options by group to support quicker skimming of the options, and to indicate in what group an option of interest is located. It also helps to visually break up long lists so that users can more easily locate the option(s) they are interested in.

In HTML, the select element is used to create both multi-select lists and combo boxes. The various allowed options are each indicated with option elements. To group options together, use the optgroup element, with the related option elements inside that element. Label the group with the "label" attribute so users will know what to expect inside the group.

The optgroup element should be directly inside the select element, and the option elements directly inside the optgroup. It is possible for a select element to contain both single option elements and optgroup groups, though authors should consider if this is in fact the desired intent when using this. It is not possible to nest the optgroup element, so only one level of grouping can be done within a select.

If grouping information is essential to understanding the list, authors may define option labels that can be understood even when the screen reader does not present the grouping information provided by optgroup.

Examples

Example 1

The following combo box collects data about favorite foods. Grouping by type allows users to select their preference more quickly.

<form action="http://example.com/prog/someprog" method="post">
    <label for="food">What is your favorite food?</label>
    <select id="food" name="food">
      <optgroup label="Fruits">
        <option value="1">Apples</option>
        <option value="3">Bananas</option>
        <option value="4">Peaches</option>
        <option value="5">...</option>
      </optgroup>
      <optgroup label="Vegetables">
        <option value="2">Carrots</option>
        <option value="6">Cucumbers</option>
       <option value="7">...</option>
     </optgroup>
     <optgroup label="Baked Goods">
       <option value="8">Apple Pie</option>
       <option value="9">Chocolate Cake</option>
       <option value="10">...</option>
     </optgroup>
   </select>
</form>

Example 2

The following example shows how a multi-select box can make use of the optrgroup element.

<form action="http://example.com/prog/someprog" method="post">
    <label for="related_techniques"><strong>Related Techniques:</strong></label>
    <select name="related_techniques" id="related_techniques" multiple="multiple" size="10">
  <optgroup label="General Techniques">
    <option value="G1">G1: Adding a link at the top of each page ... </option>
    <option value="G4">G4: Allowing the content to be paused and restarted ... </option>
    <option value="G5">G5: Allowing users to complete an activity without any time... </option>
    <option value="G8">G8: Creating an extended audio description for the ... </option>
    <option value="G9">G9: Creating captions for live synchronized media... </option>
    <option value="G10">G10: Creating components using a technology that ... </option>
  </optgroup>
  <optgroup label="HTML Techniques">
    <option value="H2">H2: Combining adjacent image and text links for the same ... </option>
    <option value="H4">H4: Creating a logical tab order through links, form ... </option>
    <option value="H24">H24: Providing text alternatives for the area ... </option>
  </optgroup>
  <optgroup label="CSS Techniques">
    <option value="C6">C6: Positioning content based on structural markup... </option>
    <option value="C7">C7: Using CSS to hide a portion of the link text... </option>
  </optgroup>
  <optgroup label="SMIL Techniques">
    <option value="SM1">SM1: Adding extended audio description in SMIL 1.0... </option>
    <option value="SM2">SM2: Adding extended audio description in SMIL 2.0... </option>
    <option value="SM6">SM6: Providing audio description in SMIL 1.0... </option>
  </optgroup>
  <optgroup label="ARIA Techniques">
    <option value="ARIA1">ARIA1: Using WAI-ARIA describedby... </option>
    <option value="ARIA2">ARIA2: Identifying required fields with the "required"... </option>
    <option value="ARIA3">ARIA3: Identifying valid range information with "valuemin" ... </option>
  </optgroup>
  <optgroup label="Common Failures">
    <option value="F1">F1: Failure of SC 1.3.2 due to changing the meaning of content by... </option>
    <option value="F2">F2: Failure of SC 1.3.1 due to using changes in text presentation... </option>
    <option value="F3">F3: Failure of SC 1.1.1 due to using CSS to include images  ... </option>
    <option value="F4">F4: Failure of SC 2.2.2 due to using text-decoration:blink ...</option>
  </optgroup>
</select>
</form>

Other sources

No endorsement implied.

Tests

Procedure

  1. Check the set of options within a selection list to see if there are groups of related options.
  2. If there are groups of related options, they should be grouped with optgroup.

Expected Results

  • Check #2 is true.