HTML Popover

What Is It?

A popover shows a small piece of extra information when someone presses a button.

What the Tags Mean

• popover: marks the hidden content.
• popovertarget: matches the content’s ID.
• button: opens and closes it.

Example 1

Save each example as index.html and open it in your browser. Each code block is a complete page.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>HTML Popover</title>
 
</head>
<body>
<button type="button" popovertarget="help">Need help?</button>
<div id="help" popover>Enter your full name.</div>
</body>
</html>

What you see: Click Need help? to show the message. Click outside it or press Escape to close it in supporting browsers.

Example 2: Another Use

Use it for a short explanation of a fee.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>HTML Popover</title>
 
</head>
<body>
<button type="button" popovertarget="fee">What is included?</button>
<div id="fee" popover>Paper, tools, and one lesson.</div>
</body>
</html>

Simple Tip

A popover does not block the whole page. Use a dialog when you need a modal decision.

Try It Yourself

Write a popover that explains a form field.