Menu Toolkit

Menu Toolkit provides functionality to help create accessible and usable menus. Toolkit provides JavaScript functions to create the menu and it's up to you to style it and extend it.

Menu from HTML

Demos

• "Click" interaction
• "Hover" interaction
• Animating sub menus

Function menuFromHTML adds accessible enhancements and events for WordPress navigation menus (although you can use it for different menus).

Two different interaction modes are supported:

1. click: sub menus are opened only on click
2. hover: sub menus open also with hover

Things to note:

• This function only handles the <ul> part of your menu. You may need additional logic for example toggles or displaying mobile menu in modal
• It's recommended to have separate menu markup for mobile menu at least when hover is used (and regardless often different configuration makes sense for smaller screens)
• This is not plug-and-play library and you still need to properly style the menu

Usage

If you’re using a bundler (such as Webpack or Rollup), you can install through npm:

npm install @evermade/menu-toolkit

Import the menuFromHTML and create a menu.

import { menuFromHTML } from "@evermade/menu-toolkit";

const menuEl = document.querySelector('.js-main-menu');
if (menuEl) {
	const menu = menuFromHTML(
		menuEl,
		{
			action: 'click'
		}
	);
}

Markup

In general it's recommended to wrap the menu in <nav> element but we'll show just the parts this function needs.

<ul class="js-main-menu">
	<li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
	<li class="menu-item-has-children">
		<a href="#">Work</a>
		<ul class="sub-menu">
			<li><a href="/websites">Websites</a></li>
			<li><a href="/e-commerce">E-commerce</a></li>
			<li><a href="/apps">Apps</a></li>
	</li>
	<li class="menu-item-has-children">
		<a href="#">Services</a>
		<ul class="sub-menu">
			<li><a href="/design">Design</a></li>
			<li><a href="/development">Development</a></li>
			<li class="menu-item-has-children">
				<a href="#">Care</a>
				<ul class="sub-menu">
					<li><a href="/upkeep">Upkeep</a></li>
					<li><a href="/monitoring">Monitoring</a></li>
				</ul>
			</ul>
	</li>
	<li><a href="/blog">Blog</a></li>
</ul>

Changes to markup

This functions adds toggles to open/close menus.

Before:

<li class="menu-item-has-children">
	<a href="/services">Services</a>
</li>

After (if shouldWrapAnchorToButton is true):

<li class="menu-item-has-children">
	<a href="/services" hidden>Services</a>
	<button aria-expanded="false" data-toggle-type="cover">
		<span>Services</span>
		<svg></svg>
	</button>
</li>

After (if shouldWrapAnchorToButton is false):

<li class="menu-item-has-children">
	<a href="/services">Services</a>
	<button aria-expanded="false" data-toggle-type="icon">
		<span class="screen-reader-text">Sub menu</span>
		<svg></svg>
	</button>
</li>

Functional CSS

There's much more you'll actually need but here's functional things that you need so that opening and closing sub menus work:

[hidden] {
	display: none !important;
}

.sub-menu {
	opacity: 0;
	pointer-events: none;
	visibility: hidden;
}

.sub-menu.is-open {
	opacity: 1;
	visibility: visible;
	pointer-events: auto;
}

Tips and tricks:

• It's recommended not to open sub menus with :hover because hovering will already add is-open class to sub menu
• You can use selctors for toggles: [data-toggle-type="cover"] and [data-toggle-type="icon"]
• You probably want to have all the same styling for [data-toggle-type="cover"] than for <a>
• If you use animation you can do CSS animations or just transition with .sub-menu.animate-open and .sub-menu.animate-close (or whatever classes you configure)
• If you want to animate caret without delay of animation you can target it with [data-toggle-type="cover"][aria-expanded="true"] because aria-expanded is updated without any delay
• Remember to check that you have proper :focus style in place for both <a> and <button> elements

Options

There are many settings (in object format) that can be passed as 2nd argument with following types:

const menu = menuFromHTML( menuEl, {
	action: 'click',
	subMenuAnchorSelector: '.menu-item-has-children > a',
	subMenuListItemSelector: '.menu-item-has-children',
	openSubMenuClass: 'is-open',
	buttonClass: '',
	visuallyHiddenClass: 'screen-reader-text',
	expandChildMenuText: 'Sub menu',
	hoverTimeout: 750,
	hoverOpenDelay: 0,
	buttonIcon:
		'<svg width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M17.5 11.6L12 16l-5.5-4.4.9-1.2L12 14l4.5-3.6 1 1.2z"></path></svg>',
	shouldWrapAnchorToButton: null,
	activeListItemSelector: '.current-menu-item',
	openActiveSubMenuOnCreate: false,
	closeSubMenuOnOutsideClick: true,
	animateOpen: false,
	animateClose: false,
	animateOpenClass: 'animate-open',
	animateCloseClass: 'animate-close',
	animateOpenMaxExecutionTime: 250,
	animateCloseMaxExecutionTime: 250,
	onBeforeCreate: null,
	onAfterCreate: null,
	onBeforeOpenSubMenu: null,
	onAfterOpenSubMenu: null,
	onBeforeCloseSubMenu: null,
	onAfterCloseSubMenu: null,
});

action (string)

Either click or hover.

subMenuAnchorSelector (string)

Targets main <a> elements of menu items that have children. If using WordPress menus or WordPress-like markup, no changes needed.

If you are working with mega menu where only 1st level opens anything you can set this for example: :scope > .menu-item-has-children > a.

Defaults to .menu-item-has-children > a.

subMenuListItemSelector (string)

Targets main <li> elements of menu items that have children. If using WordPress menus or WordPress-like markup, no changes needed.

If you are working with mega menu where only 1st level opens anything you can set this for example: :scope > .menu-item-has-children.

Defaults to .menu-item-has-children.

openSubMenuClass (string)

Class to be added when sub menu is open. CSS styles to show/hide sub menu should be based on this class.

Defaults to is-open.

buttonClass (string)

Class to be added to toggle buttons. Even without class you can use data-attributes as selectors.

Defaults to no added class.

visuallyHiddenClass (string)

Class to be added to visually hidden elements. This is used for screen readers.

Defaults to screen-reader-text.

expandChildMenuText (string)

Text to be added to toggle buttons. This is used for screen readers.

Defaults to Sub menu.

hoverTimeout (number)

Time in milliseconds to wait before closing sub menu after hover moves outside of element. This is used to prevent accidental closing of sub menus.

Defaults to 750.

hoverOpenDelay (number)

Time in milliseconds to wait before opening sub menu after hover. This is used to prevent accidental opening of sub menus and let cursor quickly move over the menu without opening it.

Defaults to 0.

buttonIcon (string)

HTML string to be used as toggle button icon.

Defaults to SVG icon.

shouldWrapAnchorToButton (boolean | function)

Weather <a> elements should be wrapped inside <button> elements (that act as toggles). Alternatively toggle button can be separate element next to <a> element.

Example:

shouldWrapAnchorToButton: true

shouldWrapAnchorToButton: ( should, a, level ) => {
	return level === 1;
}

Defaults to wrapping when href is "#".

activeListItemSelector (string)

Targets active menu item. If using WordPress menus or WordPress-like markup, no changes needed.

Defaults to .current-menu-item.

openActiveSubMenuOnCreate (boolean)

If active menu item has sub menu, should it be opened on create. This should usually only be used in mobile menus or menus that are not visible on page load.

Defaults to false.

closeSubMenuOnOutsideClick (boolean)

Should sub menus be closed when clicking outside of menu. This should usually not be used on mobile menus because it may cause accidental closing of menu levels.

Defaults to true.

animateOpen (boolean)

Should sub menus be animated when opening.

Defaults to false.

animateClose (boolean)

Should sub menus be animated when closing.

Defaults to false.

animateOpenClass (string)

Class to be added when sub menu is opening. CSS styles to animate opening of sub menu should be based on this class. You can use for example animation or transitions to animate opening.

Defaults to animate-open.

animateCloseClass (string)

Class to be added when sub menu is closing. CSS styles to animate closing of sub menu should be based on this class. You can use for example animation or transitions to animate closing.

Defaults to animate-close.

animateOpenMaxExecutionTime (number)

Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for opening animation to finish. This is fallback in case animation eventhandler is not triggered.

Defaults to 250.

animateCloseMaxExecutionTime (number)

Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for closing animation to finish. This is fallback in case animation eventhandler is not triggered.

Defaults to 250.

onBeforeCreate (function)

Callback function to be called before menu is created. This is called only once. If you need to modify markup before menu is created, this is the place to do it.

Example:

onBeforeCreate: ( menu ) => {
	// wrap all anchors to span
	const anchors = menu.querySelectorAll('a');
	anchors.forEach((anchor) => {
		const span = document.createElement('span');
		anchor.parentNode.insertBefore(span, anchor);
		span.appendChild(anchor);
	});
}

Defaults to null.

onAfterCreate (function)

Callback function to be called after menu is created. This is called only once. If you need to modify markup after menu is created, this is the place to do it.

Example:

onAfterCreate: ( menu ) => {}

Defaults to null.

onBeforeOpenSubMenu (function)

Callback function to be called before sub menu is opened. This is called every time sub menu is opened. If you need to modify markup or styling in a way that could cause flickering after sub menu is opened, this is the place to do it.

Example:

onBeforeOpenSubMenu: (ul) => {
	// check that sub-menu fits on right side of parent
	if (ul.getBoundingClientRect().right > (window.innerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth)) {
		ul.classList.add('is-out-of-bounds');
	} else {
		ul.classList.remove('is-out-of-bounds');
	}
}

Defaults to null.

onAfterOpenSubMenu (function)

Callback function to be called after sub menu is opened. This is called every time sub menu is opened.

Example:

onAfterOpenSubMenu: (ul) => {}

Defaults to null.

onBeforeCloseSubMenu (function)

Callback function to be called before sub menu is closed. This is called every time sub menu is closed.

Example:

onBeforeCloseSubMenu: (ul) => {}

Defaults to null.

onAfterCloseSubMenu (function)

Callback function to be called after sub menu is closed. This is called every time sub menu is closed. If you need to modify markup or styling in a way that could cause flickering before sub menu is closed, this is the place to do it.

Example:

onAfterCloseSubMenu: (ul) => {
	// remove out of bounds class
	ul.classList.remove('is-out-of-bounds');
}

Defaults to null.

Acknowledgements

This library has taken a lot from MEOM/navigation. Although we have a different approach to many things, it has been a great source of inspiration and ideas.

Change log

1.0.3

Add support for hover open delay. This allows cursors to quickly move over the menu without opening it. This is good for huge mega menus.

1.0.2

Prevent double initialization of menu. This could happen by human error or by some cookie consent scripts that re-run scripts after consent is given.

1.0.1

Fix issue of shouldWrapAnchorToButton copying links content with textContent and in case link actually has some inner HTML elements those would not be copied. This is now changed so that all inner HTML elements are moved which is the appropriate thing to do.

Development

Install tools npm install and build npm run build or develop with npm run watch.

Releasing new version:

• Update version in package.json
• Commit to master
• Set tag with version number to git
• Create new release in GitHub
• NPM package is automatically published from GitHub