Popover API

Concepts and usage

A very common pattern on the web is to show content over the top of other content, drawing the user's attention to specific important information or actions that need to be taken. This content can take several different names — overlays, popups, popovers, dialogs, etc. We will refer to them as popovers through the documentation. Generally speaking, these can be:

• modal, meaning that while a popover is being shown, the rest of the page is rendered non-interactive until the popover is actioned in some way (for example an important choice is made).
• non-modal, meaning that the rest of the page can be interacted with while the popover is being shown.

Popovers created using the Popover API are always non-modal. If you want to create a modal popover, a <dialog> element is the right way to go. There is significant overlap between the two — you might for example want to create a popover that persists, but control it using HTML. You can turn a <dialog> element into a popover (<dialog popover> is perfectly valid) if you want to combine popover control with dialog semantics.

Typical use cases for the popover API include user-interactive elements like action menus, custom "toast" notifications, form element suggestions, content pickers, or teaching UI.

You can create popovers in multiple different ways:

• Via a set of new HTML attributes. A simple popover with a toggle button can be created using the following code:

  html

  <button popovertarget="mypopover">Toggle the popover</button>
  <div id="mypopover" popover>Popover content</div>
  

• Via a JavaScript API. For example, HTMLElement.togglePopover() can be used to toggle a popover between shown and hidden.

There are also new events to react to a popover being toggled, and CSS features to aid in styling popovers. See Using the popover API for a detailed guide to using this API.

A related feature — interest invokers — can be used to show popovers on hover/focus, without requiring JavaScript. Check out Using interest invokers to learn more.

HTML attributes

interestfor Experimental

Defines an HTML <a>, <button>, or <area> element, or an SVG <a> element, as an interest invoker. Takes as its value the id of a target element that will be affected in some way (normally shown or hidden) when interest is shown or lost on the invoker element.

popover

A global attribute that turns an element into a popover element; takes a popover state ("auto", "hint", or "manual") as its value.

popovertarget

Turns a <button> or <input> element into a popover control button; takes the ID of the popover element to control as its value.

popovertargetaction

Specifies the action to be performed ("hide", "show", or "toggle") on the popover element being controlled by a control <button> or <input>.

CSS features

::backdrop

The ::backdrop pseudo-element is a full-screen element placed directly behind popover elements, allowing effects to be added to the page content behind the popover(s) if desired (for example blurring it out).

interest-delay, interest-delay-start, and interest-delay-end Experimental

The interest-delay shorthand property and its related interest-delay-start and interest-delay-end longhands can be set to add a delay between the user showing/losing interest and the interest change being acted on by the browser.

:interest-source and :interest-target

Can be used to apply styles to the interest invoker and its associated target element, respectively, only when interest is being shown.

:popover-open

The :popover-open pseudo-class matches a popover element only when it is in the showing state — it can be used to style popover elements when they are showing.

Interfaces

InterestEvent Experimental

The event object for the interest and loseinterest events. This includes a source property that contains a reference to the associated interest invoker element.

ToggleEvent

Represents an event that fires when a popover element is toggled between being shown and hidden. It is the event object for the beforetoggle and toggle events, which fire on popovers when their state changes.

Extensions to other interfaces

Instance properties

interestForElement Experimental

Returns a reference to the element being targeted by an interest invoker. This will be the element whose id is referenced in the equivalent HTML or SVG interest invoker element's interestfor attribute. Available on the HTMLButtonElement, HTMLAnchorElement, HTMLAreaElement, and SVGAElement interfaces.

HTMLElement.popover

Gets and sets an element's popover state via JavaScript ("auto", "hint", or "manual"), and can be used for feature detection. Reflects the value of the popover global HTML attribute.

HTMLButtonElement.popoverTargetElement and HTMLInputElement.popoverTargetElement

Gets and sets the popover element being controlled by the control button. The JavaScript equivalent of the popovertarget HTML attribute.

HTMLButtonElement.popoverTargetAction and HTMLInputElement.popoverTargetAction

Gets and sets the action to be performed ("hide", "show", or "toggle") on the popover element being controlled by the control button. Reflects the value of the popovertargetaction HTML attribute.

Instance methods

HTMLElement.hidePopover()

Hides a popover element by removing it from the top layer and styling it with display: none.

HTMLElement.showPopover()

Shows a popover element by adding it to the top layer.

HTMLElement.togglePopover()

Toggles a popover element between the showing and hidden states.

Events

beforetoggle event

Fired just before a popover element's state changes between showing and hidden, or vice versa. Can be used to prevent a popover from opening, or to update other elements that need to be triggered by popover state.

toggle event

Fired just after a popover element's state changes between showing and hidden, or vice versa.

interest Experimental

Fired on an interest invoker's target element when interest is shown, allowing code to be run in response.

loseinterest Experimental

Fired on an interest invoker's target element when interest is lost, allowing code to be run in response.

Examples

See our Popover API examples landing page to access multiple popover examples.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

api.HTMLElement.popover

api.HTMLElement.beforetoggle_event.popover_elements

api.HTMLElement.toggle_event.popover_elements

See also

• popover HTML global attribute
• popovertarget HTML attribute
• popovertargetaction HTML attribute
• ::backdrop CSS pseudo-element
• :popover-open CSS pseudo-class