<menu>

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.

Notes: This element was deprecated in HTML4, but reintroduced in HTML5.1 (still working draft).")}}. This document describes current Firefox implementation. Type 'list' is likely to change to 'toolbar' according to HTML5.1 working draft.")}}

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 a menu attribute of a <button> element, or as context menu for an element with a contextmenu attribute. 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.

Examples

Context menu

HTML content

<!-- 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 content

div {
  width: 300px;
  height: 80px;
  background-color: lightgreen;
}

Result

Menu button

HTML content

<!-- 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

HTML content

<!-- 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

Browser compatibility

[1] This is implemented behind the preference Experimental Web Platform features and only works as context menu, not as button menu.

[2] Only works as context menu, not as button menu.

[3] This is implemented behind the preference Enable experimental Web Platform features and works as context menu, not as button menu.

[4] Nested menus are not supported.

See also

• Other list-related HTML Elements: <ol>, <ul>, <li> and the obsolete <dir>.
• The contextmenu global attribute can be used on an element to refer to the id of a menu with the context type.