Skip to main content Home
About About the Design SystemRoadmap
Get started OverviewDesignersDevelopers
Foundations OverviewColorGridIconographyInteractionsSpacingTypography
Tokens Overview Global colorbox shadowTypographyborderopacityspacelengthIconBreakpointsMedia Queries
Elements All elements Accordion Alert Announcement Audio player Avatar Back to top Badge Blockquote Breadcrumb Button Card Chip Code block Call to action Dialog Disclosure Footer Health index Icon Jump links Navigation (primary) Navigation (secondary) Pagination PopoverPlanned Progress stepsPlanned Site status Skip link Spinner Statistic Subnavigation Surface Switch Table Tabs Tag Tile Timestamp Tooltip Video embed
Theming OverviewColor PalettesCustomizingDevelopers
Patterns All PatternsCardTabsFilterFormLinkLink with iconLogo wallSearch barSkip navigationSticky bannerSticky cardTileVideo thumbnail
Personalization All Personalization PatternsAnnouncement
Accessibility FundamentalsAccessibility toolsAssistive technologiesCI/CDContentContributorsDesignDevelopmentManual testingResourcesScreen readers
Design/code status Release notes Get support

Subnavigation

OverviewStyleGuidelinesCodeAccessibilityDemos
Keyboard interactionsFocus orderTouch targetsARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG)Web Content Accessibility GuidelinesKeyboard interactionsFocus orderTouch targetsARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG)Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Keyboard interactions

All links within a subnavigation are focus stops. Pressing Enter when a link has focus will directed users to a new page.

Helpful tip

Overflow buttons do not have focus so there are no keyboard interactions.

Image of desktop and mobile subnavigations with diagrams of what happens when Tab keys are pressed
Key Result
Tab Moves focus to the next link or interactive element
Shift+Tab Moves focus to the previous link or interactive element
Enter Navigates user to another page

Focus order

A logical focus order helps keyboard users operate our websites. Elements need to receive focus in an order that preserves meaning, therefore the focus order should make sense and not jump around randomly. When a link has focus, it can move horizontally within the list of links or be moved to another interactive element.

Image of desktop and mobile subnavigations showing the focus order from left to right

Touch targets

Links are adequately spaced for optimal touch targets.

Image of desktop and mobile subnavigations showing adequate touch target spacing

ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG)

Learn to use the accessibility semantics defined by the Accessible Rich Internet Application (ARIA) specification to create accessible web experiences.

View APG resources

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Understanding documents provide detailed explanations for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) guidelines and success criteria.

© 2021-2025 Red Hat, Inc. Deploys by Netlify