HTML <menuitem> Tag

This tag has now been removed from the HTML5 specification. Rather than remove this article altogether, I have decided to keep it here for reference.

The HTML <menuitem> tag represents a command that the user can invoke from a popup menu (either a context menu or the menu of a menu button).

You can use one or more type, label, icon, disabled, checked, and radiogroup attributes to set a new command. Otherwise you can use the command attribute to reference another command. This way, you can define a command once, set its state (e.g. whether it is active or disabled) in one place, and have all references to that command in the user interface change at the same time.

Syntax

The <menuitem> tag is written as <menuitem> (no end tag) with its contents inserted between the start and end tags. The tag can have any number of attributes, which are inserted into the start tag.

The <menuitem> tag must be a child of a <menu> element whose type attribute is in the popup menu state.

Like this:

Example

Context Menu

Here's an example of using the <menuitem> tag to create a context menu. Right-clicking on the photo will invoke the browser's contextual menu. However, a new option will be added to the browser's contextual menu: "Change Border Color...". The user can then select from the list of colors.

<script type="text/javascript">
function changeColor (thisColor) {
 document.getElementById('myPic').style.borderColor = thisColor;
}
</script>
<img id="myPic" src="/pix/places/boracay-resort-200x150.jpg" contextmenu="photoMenu" style="float:left;border:10px solid black;" alt="Photo of resort on Boracay Island, Philippines">
<p style="width:140px;float:left;padding-left:8px;">Right click on the image to invoke the context menu. <strong>Note</strong>: Only supported in Firefox at time of writing.</>
<menu type="context" id="photoMenu">
 <menu type="popup" label="Change Border Color...">
  <menuitem label="Black (default)" onclick="changeColor('black');"></menuitem>
  <menuitem label="Orange" onclick="changeColor('orange');"></menuitem>
  <menuitem label="Red" onclick="changeColor('red');"></menuitem>
  <menuitem label="Green" onclick="changeColor('green');"></menuitem>
  <menuitem label="Blue" onclick="changeColor('blue');"></menuitem>
 </menu>
</menu>

Attributes

Attributes can be added to an HTML element to provide more information about how the element should appear or behave.

There are 3 kinds of attributes that you can add to your HTML tags: Element-specific, global, and event handler content attributes.

The <menuitem> element accepts the following attributes.

Element-Specific Attributes

This table shows the attributes that are specific to the <menuitem> tag/element.

Attribute	Description
type	Specifies the type of command. Possible values: `command` (default value). This value means that element represents a normal command with an associated action. `checkbox` The element represents a state or option that can be toggled. `radio` Means that the element represents a selection of one item from a list of items.
label	Specifies the name of the command, as shown to the user.
icon	Specifies the URI (or IRI) of graphical image that represents the action.
disabled	Specifies if the command is disabled or not. This is a boolean attribute. If the attribute is present, its value must either be the empty string or a value that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for the attribute's canonical name, with no leading or trailing whitespace (i.e. either `disabled` or `disabled="disabled"`). Possible values: [Empty string] disabled
checked	Indicates whether the command is selected or not. This attribute can only be used when the `type` attribute is either `checkbox` or `radio`. This is a boolean attribute. If the attribute is present, its value must either be the empty string or a value that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for the attribute's canonical name, with no leading or trailing whitespace (i.e. either `checked` or `checked="checked"`). Possible values: [Empty string] checked
radiogroup	Specifies the name of the group of commands that will be toggled when the command itself is toggled, for commands whose type attribute has the value "radio".
default	Specifies that the command is the one that would have been invoked if the user had directly activated the menu's subject instead of using the menu. This is a boolean attribute. If the attribute is present, its value must either be the empty string or a value that is an ASCII case-insensitive match for the attribute's canonical name, with no leading or trailing whitespace (i.e. either `default` or `default="default"`). Possible values: [Empty string] default
command	Here's what the W3C HTML5 specification says about the `command` attribute: If the element's `Disabled` State is false (enabled) then the element's activation behavior depends on the element's `type` and `command` attributes, as follows: If the element has a master command set by its `command` attribute The user agent must run synthetic click activation steps on the element's master command. If the type attribute is in the `Checkbox` state If the element has a `checked` attribute, the UA must remove that attribute. Otherwise, the UA must add a `checked` attribute, with the literal value checked. If the type attribute is in the `Radio` state If the element has a parent, then the UA must walk the list of child nodes of that parent element, and for each node that is a `menuitem` element, if that element has a `radiogroup` attribute whose value exactly matches the current element's (treating missing `radiogroup` attributes as if they were the empty string), and has a `checked` attribute, must remove that attribute. Then, the element's `checked` attribute must be set to the literal value `checked`. Otherwise The element's activation behavior is to do nothing.

Global Attributes

The following attributes are standard across all HTML5 elements. Therefore, you can use these attributes with the <menuitem> tag , as well as with all other HTML tags.

accesskey
class
contenteditable
contextmenu
dir
draggable
dropzone
hidden
id
inert
itemid
itemprop
itemref
itemscope
itemtype
lang
spellcheck
style
tabindex
title
translate

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 global attributes.

Event Handler Content Attributes

Event handler content attributes enable you to invoke a script from within your HTML. The script is invoked when a certain "event" occurs. Each event handler content attribute deals with a different event.

Below are the standard HTML5 event handler content attributes.

Again, you can use any of these with the <menuitem> element, as well as any other HTML5 element.

onabort
oncancel
onblur
oncanplay
oncanplaythrough
onchange
onclick
oncontextmenu
ondblclick
ondrag
ondragend
ondragenter
ondragexit
ondragleave
ondragover
ondragstart
ondrop
ondurationchange
onemptied
onended
onerror
onfocus
onformchange
onforminput
oninput
oninvalid
onkeydown
onkeypress
onkeyup
onload
onloadeddata
onloadedmetadata
onloadstart
onmousedown
onmousemove
onmouseout
onmouseover
onmouseup
onmousewheel
onpause
onplay
onplaying
onprogress
onratechange
onreadystatechange
onscroll
onseeked
onseeking
onselect
onshow
onstalled
onsubmit
onsuspend
ontimeupdate
onvolumechange
onwaiting

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 event handler content attributes.

Differences Between HTML 4 & HTML 5

The <menuitem> tag is not supported in HTML 4.

The <menuitem> tag is not actually supported in the first version of HTML5 either. It is supported in HTML 5.1 and the WHATWG HTML Living Standard.

For more information on this element, see HTML5 <menuitem> Tag. Also check out the links to the official specifications below.

Template

Here's a template for the <menuitem> tag with all available attributes for the tag (based on HTML5). These are grouped into attribute types, each type separated by a space. In many cases, you will probably only need one or two (if any) attributes. Simply remove the attributes you don't need.

For more information on attributes for this tag, see HTML5 <menuitem> Tag.

* The title attribute has special semantics on the <menuitem> element. If used, indicates the kind of command: either a normal command with an associated action, or a state or option that can be toggled, or a selection of one item from a list of items.

Tag Details

For more details about the <menuitem> tag, see HTML5 <menuitem> Tag.

Specifications

Here are the official specifications for the <menuitem> element.

HTML Living Standard (WHATWG)
Current W3C Draft (the next version that is currently being worked on)

What's the Difference?

W3C creates "snapshot" specifications that don't change once defined. So the HTML5 specification won't change once it becomes an official recommendation. WHATWG on the other hand, develops a "living standard" that is updated on a regular basis. In general, you will probably find that the HTML living standard will be more closely aligned to the current W3C draft than to the HTML5 specification.

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