Tabs

Tabs organize groups of related content that are at the same level of hierarchy.

Media gallery screen with tabs labeled 'Video', 'Photos', and 'Audio'.

Types

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Primary tabs
Secondary tabs

Interactive Demo

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View interactive demo inline.

Open interactive demo in new tab.

Usage

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Tabs contain multiple primary or secondary tab children. Use the same type of tab in a tab bar.

<md-tabs>
  <md-primary-tab>Video</md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab>Photos</md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab>Audio</md-primary-tab>
</md-tabs>

<md-tabs>
  <md-secondary-tab>Birds</md-secondary-tab>
  <md-secondary-tab>Cats</md-secondary-tab>
  <md-secondary-tab>Dogs</md-secondary-tab>
</md-tabs>

Selection

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Add an active attribute to change which tab is selected.

<md-tabs>
  <md-primary-tab>Video</md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab active>Photos</md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab>Audio</md-primary-tab>
</md-tabs>

To observe changes to tab selections, add an event listener to <md-tabs>, listening for the change event.

tabs.addEventListener('change', (event: Event) => {
  if (event.target.activeTabIndex === 2) {
    // ... perform logic only if index of selected item is 2.
  }
});

Icons

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Tabs may optionally show an icon.

Icons communicate the type of content within a tab. Icons should be simple and recognizable.

<md-tabs>
  <md-primary-tab>
    <md-icon slot="icon">piano</md-icon>
    Keyboard
  </md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab>
    <md-icon slot="icon">tune</md-icon>
    Guitar
  </md-primary-tab>
</md-tabs>

Tabs may optionally show icons without a label.

<md-tabs>
  <md-primary-tab>
    <md-icon slot="icon">piano</md-icon>
  </md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab>
    <md-icon slot="icon">tune</md-icon>
  </md-primary-tab>
</md-tabs>

Primary tabs

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Primary tabs are placed at the top of the content pane under a top app bar. They display the main content destinations.

<md-tabs>
  <md-primary-tab>
    <md-icon slot="icon">piano</md-icon>
    Keyboard
  </md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab>
    <md-icon slot="icon">tune</md-icon>
    Guitar
  </md-primary-tab>
</md-tabs>

Inline icons

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Primary tabs can show their icons inline, like secondary tabs.

<md-tabs>
  <md-primary-tab inline-icon>
    <md-icon slot="icon">piano</md-icon>
    Keyboard
  </md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab inline-icon>
    <md-icon slot="icon">tune</md-icon>
    Guitar
  </md-primary-tab>
</md-tabs>

Secondary tabs

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Secondary tabs are used within a content area to further separate related content and establish hierarchy.

<md-tabs>
  <md-secondary-tab>
    <md-icon slot="icon">flight</md-icon>
    Travel
  </md-secondary-tab>
  <md-secondary-tab>
    <md-icon slot="icon">hotel</md-icon>
    Hotel
  </md-secondary-tab>
  <md-secondary-tab>
    <md-icon slot="icon">hiking</md-icon>
    Activities
  </md-secondary-tab>
</md-tabs>

Accessibility

Link to “Accessibility”

Add an aria-label attribute to <md-tabs> and any individual tab whose label needs to be more descriptive, such as icon-only tabs.

<md-tabs aria-label="Content to view">
  <md-primary-tab aria-label="Photos">
    <md-icon slot="icon">photo</md-icon>
  </md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab aria-label="Videos">
    <md-icon slot="icon">videocam</md-icon>
  </md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab aria-label="Music">
    <md-icon slot="icon">audiotrack</md-icon>
  </md-primary-tab>
</md-tabs>

Tab panels

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Every tab must reference a role="tabpanel" element with aria-controls. Tab panels must be labelled with aria-label or aria-labelledby.

It's common to reference the panel's tab with aria-labelledby.

<md-tabs aria-label="Content to view">
  <md-primary-tab id="photos-tab" aria-controls="photos-panel">
    Photos
  </md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab id="videos-tab" aria-controls="videos-panel">
    Videos
  </md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab id="music-tab" aria-controls="music-panel">
    Music
  </md-primary-tab>
</md-tabs>

<div id="photos-panel" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="photos-tab">
  ...
</div>
<div id="videos-panel" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="videos-tab" hidden>
  ...
</div>
<div id="music-panel" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="music-tab" hidden>
  ...
</div>

Theming

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Tabs supports Material theming and can be customized in terms of color, typography, and shape.

Primary tab tokens

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Token	Default value
`--md-primary-tab-container-color`	`--md-sys-color-surface`
`--md-primary-tab-label-text-font`	`--md-sys-typescale-title-small-font`
`--md-primary-tab-active-indicator-color`	`--md-sys-color-primary`
`--md-primary-tab-icon-color`	`--md-sys-color-on-surface-variant`
`--md-primary-tab-container-shape`	`0px`

All tokens

Primary tab example

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<style>
:root {
  /* System tokens */
  --md-sys-color-surface: #f7faf9;
  --md-sys-color-primary: #005353;

  /* Component tokens */
  --md-primary-tab-label-text-font: cursive, system-ui;
  --md-primary-tab-label-text-size: 0.8em;
}
</style>

<md-tabs>
  <md-primary-tab>Tab 1</md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab>Tab 2</md-primary-tab>
  <md-primary-tab>Tab 3</md-primary-tab>
</md-tabs>

Secondary tab tokens

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Token	Default value
`--md-secondary-tab-container-color`	`--md-sys-color-surface`
`--md-secondary-tab-label-text-font`	`--md-sys-typescale-title-small-font`
`--md-secondary-tab-active-indicator-color`	`--md-sys-color-primary`
`--md-secondary-tab-icon-color`	`--md-sys-color-on-surface-variant`
`--md-secondary-tab-container-shape`	`0px`

All tokens

Secondary tab example

Link to “Secondary tab example”

<style>
:root {
  /* System tokens */
  --md-sys-color-surface: #f7faf9;
  --md-sys-color-primary: #005353;

  /* Component tokens */
  --md-secondary-tab-label-text-font: cursive, system-ui;
  --md-secondary-tab-label-text-size: 0.8em;
}
</style>

<md-tabs>
  <md-secondary-tab>Tab 1</md-secondary-tab>
  <md-secondary-tab>Tab 2</md-secondary-tab>
  <md-secondary-tab>Tab 3</md-secondary-tab>
</md-tabs>

API

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MdTabs `<md-tabs>`

Link to “MdTabs <md-tabs>”

Properties

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Property	Attribute	Type	Default	Description
`autoActivate`	`auto-activate`	`boolean`	`false`	Whether or not to automatically select a tab when it is focused.
`tabs`		`Tab[]`	`undefined`	The tabs of this tab bar.
`activeTab`		`Tab`	`undefined`
`activeTabIndex`		`number`	`undefined`

Methods

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Method	Parameters	Returns	Description
`scrollToTab`	`tabToScrollTo`	`Promise<void>`	Scrolls the toolbar, if overflowing, to the active tab, or the provided tab.

Events

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Event Description

change Fired when the selected tab changes. The target's selected or selectedItem and previousSelected or previousSelectedItem provide information about the selection change. The change event is fired when a user interaction like a space/enter key or click cause a selection change. The tab selection based on these actions can be cancelled by calling preventDefault on the triggering keydown or click event.

Event	Description
`change`	Fired when the selected tab changes. The target's selected or selectedItem and previousSelected or previousSelectedItem provide information about the selection change. The change event is fired when a user interaction like a space/enter key or click cause a selection change. The tab selection based on these actions can be cancelled by calling preventDefault on the triggering `keydown` or `click` event.

MdPrimaryTab `<md-primary-tab>`

Link to “MdPrimaryTab <md-primary-tab>”

Properties

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Property	Attribute	Type	Default	Description
`inlineIcon`	`inline-icon`	`boolean`	`false`	Whether or not the icon renders inline with label or stacked vertically.
`isTab`	`md-tab`	`boolean`	`true`	The attribute `md-tab` indicates that the element is a tab for the parent element, `<md-tabs>`. Make sure if you're implementing your own `md-tab` component that you have an `md-tab` attribute set.
`active`	`active`	`boolean`	`false`	Whether or not the tab is selected.
`hasIcon`	`has-icon`	`boolean`	`false`	In SSR, set this to true when an icon is present.
`iconOnly`	`icon-only`	`boolean`	`false`	In SSR, set this to true when there is no label and only an icon.
`selected`	`selected`	`boolean`	`undefined`

MdSecondaryTab `<md-secondary-tab>`

Link to “MdSecondaryTab <md-secondary-tab>”

Properties

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Property	Attribute	Type	Default	Description
`isTab`	`md-tab`	`boolean`	`true`	The attribute `md-tab` indicates that the element is a tab for the parent element, `<md-tabs>`. Make sure if you're implementing your own `md-tab` component that you have an `md-tab` attribute set.
`active`	`active`	`boolean`	`false`	Whether or not the tab is selected.
`hasIcon`	`has-icon`	`boolean`	`false`	In SSR, set this to true when an icon is present.
`iconOnly`	`icon-only`	`boolean`	`false`	In SSR, set this to true when there is no label and only an icon.
`selected`	`selected`	`boolean`	`undefined`