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Radio

A Radio is a binary input that is usually combined in a group of two or more options. They signal a pattern where users can only select one of the available options. Radios are also known as “radio buttons”.

Guidelines

When to use radios

Radios must feature a descriptive label. They must be part of a radio group of at least two elements. A radio may also have sub-components or child radio groups.

Use the Radio component to make a single selection from a list of options where only one choice is allowed. When multiple selections are needed, use Checkbox instead.

Specifications

Specification of Radio.

  1. Radio
    Radio buttons make the selection visually distinct.
  2. Label
    The Radio must always contain a label, with the text size matching the base font size for consistency with the body text. Labels can include links and bold text and should be concise, clearly indicating the selected option.
  3. Description (optional)
    If additional information about the label is required, a description can be included.
  4. Custom input (optional)
    An additional input field can be included within the Radio to allow the user to input a custom response.

Component limitations

A group of radios should consist of at least 2 radios, with no maximum limit on the number of radios per group.

The Radio label will expand to fit longer text while the radio itself remains aligned with the first line of the label's text.

Refer to the Radio component in Codex Figma.

Types

Depending on the content type, the following types of Radios are available:

  1. With only label
    By default, the Radio always includes a label that matches the base font size for consistency.
  2. With description
    In some cases, an optional description can be added below the label for additional information.
  3. With custom input
    In cases where additional user input is required, an optional custom input field can be added below the label or description.

Types of Radio based on its content: with label, with description, and with custom input.

The custom input within the Radio can include any of the following form components designed to gather user input, including:

  1. TextInput and TextArea
  2. Select
  3. Combobox
  4. ChipInput
  5. Lookup
  6. A combination of more than one input

Types of custom inputs within the Radio: with TextArea, with Select, with Combobox, with ChipInput, with Lookup, and with a combination of 2 inputs.

Note: Groups of Checkboxes, Radios, and Toggle switches are not allowed within this custom input.

Interaction states

Radio buttons’ states were designed using accessible color variations. In addition to the 'disc' icon, these make it easier to differentiate between the radio button’s selected and unselected modes (e.g. disabled, hover, active):

States of Radio for both unselected and selected states: default, hover, active, focus, and disabled.

  1. Default unselected
  2. Hover unselected
  3. Active unselected
  4. Focus unselected
  5. Disabled unselected
  6. Default selected
  7. Hover selected
  8. Active selected
  9. Focus selected
  10. Disabled selected

Accessibility note

The disabled state does not meet our minimum color contrast rules. WCAG 2.1 states that “…part[s] of an inactive user interface component […] have no contrast requirement”.[1]
Provide sufficient information in a disabled element's context, so the user can understand what is disabled and how to enable it (if applicable).

Best practices

Consider the following recommendations when using radios.

Label’s format

Radio group including different text formats and a link.

Do:
  • Accompany the Radio with a label that matches the base font size.
  • Include a description below the label to provide additional information.
  • Use text formatting like bold and italic in the label.
  • Include standalone links within the label to provide additional information regarding a specific option when necessary.

Radio group with bolded labels and a link within the last label.

Don't:
  • Bold all Radio label.
  • Link the entire Radio label as it could cause issues with the selection.

Inline radios

Inline Radio group including two radios with short labels.

Do:
  • Use inline radios, but reserve its use for specific cases to prevent disruptions in the reading flow.

Inline Radio group with three radios, where the middle one is longer than the others.

Don't:
  • Use inline radios if there are too many radios per line.
  • Use inline radios if there is significant variation in the length of the radios labels.

Custom input within the Radio

Radio group displaying a custom input with a combination of TextInput and Select.

Do:
  • Combine 2 different fields within the custom input if needed.

Radio group displaying a custom input with a nested group of radios.

Don't:
  • Nest another group of radios, checkboxes, or toggle switches within the custom input.

Radio group with the last Radio unselected and displaying a custom input disabled.

Do:
  • Display the custom input at the end of a Radio group whenever possible.
  • Disable the custom input unless its corresponding Radio is selected.

Radio group displaying one custom input per Radio, with all inputs enabled.

Don't:
  • Design a layout where multiple Radios include custom inputs visible simultaneously.
  • Enable the custom input when its corresponding Radio is not selected.

Content

A radio button ensure that a reader chooses only one option from a set of two or more. Keeping choices simple and mutually exclusive makes for concise, effective and trustworthy content.

Radio buttons conveying an example of a clear prompt and concise list of options.

Do:

Radio buttons conveying an example of a list of options with unnecessarily long descriptions.

Don't:

Keyboard navigation

KeyFunction
TabThe focus is placed on the next interactive element in tab order.
Shift + TabThe focus is placed on the previous interactive element.
Up arrow / Down arrow / Left arrow / Right arrowWhen the focus is placed on a Radio within a group, the arrow keys move the focus between the different Radios and select them.

References

  1. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 – Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)

Demos

Open up the browser console to see events emitted on input.

Label and description

Always include label text via the default slot. You can also add description text via the #description slot.

This demo uses the Field component—usage of this component is described in the next section.

Search completion
Corrects up to two typos. Removes redirects that are very similar to the main title.
No typo correction. No accent folding. Strict matching.
NameValue
View
Reading direction

Form field

When used in a form, a group of Radios can be wrapped in the Field component to add features like a semantic label, description and help text, validation messages, and more. See the Field page for more information.

When building a Radio field, always set isFieldset to true to ensure proper accessibility support. This wraps the group in a <fieldset> element and labels it with an associated <legend>.

If using a Radio group outside of a form, follow the instructions in the next demo.

Notifications Choose how often you'd like to receive notifications
Note that you can update this preference later

Radio group

For a group of radios, each Radio component's v-model will be bound to the same ref, which is equal to the inputValue prop of the selected Radio. Use the same name prop for all of the Radio components in a group.

This demo shows what to do when using a Radio group outside of a form:

  1. Wrap the group in an element with role="radiogroup"
  2. Connect the group with a label via the aria-labelledby attribute

Radio group value: radio-2

Inline radios

Use the inline prop to get an inline layout.

Inline Radio group demo

With no initial selection

Radio group value:

With custom input

To add a custom input, use the custom-input slot to pass in an input like TextInput, TextArea, Select, Combobox, ChipInput, Lookup, or a combination of more than one input.

In the example below, the custom input is always visible but remains disabled until its parent Radio component is selected. Inside the custom input <div>, a Field wraps the TextInput to display its own validation message.

Expiration When do you want the block to expire?

Vue usage

Typical use of this component will involve using v-for to loop through an array of items and output a Radio component for each one. Each Radio will have the same v-model binding and name prop, but different inputValue props and label content.
The v-model value is the inputValue of the Radio that is currently on.

Props

Prop nameDescriptionTypeDefault
modelValueValue of the currently selected radio.

Provided by v-model binding in the parent component.
string|number|boolean''
inputValueHTML "value" attribute to assign to the input.

Required for input groups.
string|number|booleanfalse
name(required)HTML "name" attribute to assign to the input.string
disabledWhether the disabled attribute should be added to the input.booleanfalse
inlineWhether the component should display inline.

By default, display: block is set and a margin exists between sibling components, for a stacked layout.
booleanfalse

Events

Event namePropertiesDescription
update:modelValuemodelValue string|number|boolean - The new model valueEmitted when modelValue changes.

Slots

NameDescriptionBindings
defaultLabel text.
descriptionShort description text.
custom-inputCustom input.

CSS-only version

Markup structure

With description

To add a description below the label:

  • Add a <span> after the <label> element with an ID and class cdx-label__description. Include the description text here.
  • Add an aria-describedby attribute to the <input> element with the value of the ID of the description
Search completion
Corrects up to two typos. Removes redirects that are very similar to the main title.
No typo correction. No accent folding. Strict matching.

Radio group

Native attributes of the <input> element can be used. For example:

  • Add the checked attribute to the <input> element if it should be selected initially.
  • Add the disabled attribute to the <input> element if it should be disabled.

Always include one of these two features for accessible grouping:

  1. If using the Radio group in a field, wrap the group in a <fieldset> element and add a <legend> element with the group label. This method is demonstrated below and requires some style resets on <fieldset> and <legend>. You can use the CSS-only Field and Label components to reset browser styles of these elements.
  2. If using the Radio group outside of a field, wrap the group in a <div> with role="group" and aria-labelledby set to the ID of the group label. See an example of this above.
CSS-only Radio group demo

Inline radios

Add the cdx-radio--inline class to the root element to get an inline layout.

CSS-only inline Radio demo