Components

Details

Make a page easier to scan by letting users reveal more detailed information only if they need it.

Open this example in a new tab: details
HTML
<details class="govuk-details">
  <summary class="govuk-details__summary">
    <span class="govuk-details__summary-text">
      Help with nationality
    </span>
  </summary>
  <div class="govuk-details__text">
    We need to know your nationality so we can work out which elections you’re entitled to vote in. If you cannot provide your nationality, you’ll have to send copies of identity documents through the post.
  </div>
</details>
Nunjucks
{% from "govuk/components/details/macro.njk" import govukDetails %}

{{ govukDetails({
  summaryText: "Help with nationality",
  text: "We need to know your nationality so we can work out which elections you’re entitled to vote in. If you cannot provide your nationality, you’ll have to send copies of identity documents through the post."
}) }}

When to use this component

Use the details component to make a page easier to scan when it contains information that only some users will need.

When not to use this component

Do not use the details component to hide information that the majority of your users will need.

Decide between using details, accordions and tabs

Details, accordions, and tabs all hide sections of content which a user can choose to reveal.

Use the details component instead of tabs or an accordion if you only have 1 section of content.

The details component is less visually prominent than tabs and accordions, so tends to work better for content which is not as important to users.

How it works

The details component is a short link that shows more detailed help text when a user clicks on it.

There are 2 ways to use the details component. You can use HTML or, if you are using Nunjucks or the GOV.UK Prototype Kit, you can use the Nunjucks macro.

Open this example in a new tab: details second
HTML
<details class="govuk-details">
  <summary class="govuk-details__summary">
    <span class="govuk-details__summary-text">
      Help with nationality
    </span>
  </summary>
  <div class="govuk-details__text">
    We need to know your nationality so we can work out which elections you’re entitled to vote in. If you cannot provide your nationality, you’ll have to send copies of identity documents through the post.
  </div>
</details>
Nunjucks
{% from "govuk/components/details/macro.njk" import govukDetails %}

{{ govukDetails({
  summaryText: "Help with nationality",
  text: "We need to know your nationality so we can work out which elections you’re entitled to vote in. If you cannot provide your nationality, you’ll have to send copies of identity documents through the post."
}) }}

Write clear link text

Make the link text short and descriptive so users can quickly work out if they need to click on it.

Research on this component

There is evidence that some users avoid clicking the link to show more details, as they think it will take them away from the page.

There are concerns that some users of voice assist software will not be able to interact with the component. Some software might require the user to specifically refer to the link to show more details as a button in order to interact with it.

Nunjucks options for this component

Use options to customise the appearance, content and behaviour of a component when using a macro, for example, changing the text.

Some options are required for the macro to work; these are marked as "Required" in the option description.

If you're using Nunjucks macros in production with "html" options, or ones ending with "html", you must sanitise the HTML to protect against cross-site scripting exploits.

Name Type Description
summaryText string Required. If summmaryHtml is set, this is not required. Text to use within the summary element (the visible part of the details element). If summaryHtml is provided, the summaryText option will be ignored.
summaryHtml string Required. If summmaryText is set, this is not required. HTML to use within the summary element (the visible part of the details element). If summaryHtml is provided, the summaryText option will be ignored.
text string Required. If html is set, this is not required. Text to use within the disclosed part of the details element. If html is provided, the text option will be ignored.
html string Required. If text is set, this is not required. HTML to use within the disclosed part of the details element. If html is provided, the text option will be ignored.
caller nunjucks-block Not strictly a parameter but Nunjucks code convention. Using a call block enables you to call a macro with all the text inside the tag. This is helpful if you want to pass a lot of content into a macro. To use it, you will need to wrap the entire details component in a call block.
id string ID to add to the details element.
open boolean If true, details element will be expanded.
classes string Classes to add to the <details> element.
attributes object HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the <details> element.

Help improve this component

To help make sure that this page is useful, relevant and up to date, you can:

Tell us if your service uses this component

Take part in our usage survey (opens in a new tab) to help us improve this component to better meet the needs of the services that use it.

Need help?

If you’ve got a question about the GOV.UK Design System, contact the team.