Form elements - Textarea

Use textarea to let users enter more than 1 line of text.

Open this default textarea example in a new tab
Copy default textarea code 
<div class="nhsuk-form-group">
  <label class="nhsuk-label" for="example">
    Can you provide more detail?
  </label>
  <div class="nhsuk-hint" id="example-hint">
    Do not include personal or financial information, for example, your National Insurance number or credit card details.
  </div>
  <textarea class="nhsuk-textarea" id="example" name="example" rows="5" aria-describedby="example-hint"></textarea>
</div>
Close default textarea code
Nunjucks macro options

Use options to customise the appearance, content and behaviour of a component when using a macro, for example, changing the text.

Some options are required for the macro to work; these are marked as "Required" in the option description.

If you're using Nunjucks macros in production with "html" options, or ones ending with "html", you must sanitise the HTML to protect against cross-site scripting exploits.

Nunjucks arguments for default textarea
Name Type Required Description
id string true The id of the textarea.
name string true The name of the textarea, which is submitted with the form data.
rows string false Optional number of textarea rows (default is 5 rows).
value string false Optional initial value of the textarea.
describedBy string false One or more element IDs to add to the `aria-describedby` attribute, used to provide additional descriptive information for screenreader users.
label object true Options for the label component.
hint object false Options for the hint component.
errorMessage object false Options for the error message component. The error message component will not display if you use a falsy value for `errorMessage`, for example `false` or `null`.
autocomplete string false autocomplete attribute to identify input purpose, for instance "postal-code" or "username".
classes string false Classes to add to the textarea.
attributes object false HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the textarea.
Copy default textarea code 
{% from 'textarea/macro.njk' import textarea %}

{{ textarea({
  name: "example",
  id: "example",
  label: {
    text: "Can you provide more detail?"
  },
  hint: {
    text: "Do not include personal or financial information, for example, your National Insurance number or credit card details."
  }
}) }}
Close default textarea code

When to use textarea

Use textarea when you want users to enter an amount of text that’s longer than a single line.

When not to use textarea

Users can find open-ended questions difficult to answer. It's usually better to break up 1 complex question into a series of simple ones, for example where users can select from options using radios.

If you need to ask an open question

Do not use textarea if you want users to enter single line answer, such as a phone number or name. In this case, you should use text input.

How to use textarea

Label textareas

You must label textareas.

Do not use placeholder text for a label, as it disappears when users click inside the textarea.

Align labels above the textarea they refer to. Labels should be short, direct and written in sentence case. Do not use colons at the end of labels.

Use the right size of textarea

Make the height of a textarea proportional to the amount of text you expect users to enter. You can set the height of a textarea by specifying the rows attribute.

Open this longer textarea example in a new tab
Copy longer textarea code 
<div class="nhsuk-form-group">
  <label class="nhsuk-label" for="example-longer">
    Can you provide more detail?
  </label>
  <div class="nhsuk-hint" id="example-longer-hint">
    Do not include personal or financial information, for example, your National Insurance number or credit card details.
  </div>
  <textarea class="nhsuk-textarea" id="example-longer" name="example-longer" rows=" 10 " aria-describedby="example-longer-hint"></textarea>
</div>
Close longer textarea code
Nunjucks macro options

Use options to customise the appearance, content and behaviour of a component when using a macro, for example, changing the text.

Some options are required for the macro to work; these are marked as "Required" in the option description.

If you're using Nunjucks macros in production with "html" options, or ones ending with "html", you must sanitise the HTML to protect against cross-site scripting exploits.

Nunjucks arguments for longer textarea
Name Type Required Description
id string true The id of the textarea.
name string true The name of the textarea, which is submitted with the form data.
rows string false Optional number of textarea rows (default is 5 rows).
value string false Optional initial value of the textarea.
describedBy string false One or more element IDs to add to the `aria-describedby` attribute, used to provide additional descriptive information for screenreader users.
label object true Options for the label component.
hint object false Options for the hint component.
errorMessage object false Options for the error message component. The error message component will not display if you use a falsy value for `errorMessage`, for example `false` or `null`.
autocomplete string false autocomplete attribute to identify input purpose, for instance "postal-code" or "username".
classes string false Classes to add to the textarea.
attributes object false HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the textarea.
Copy longer textarea code 
{% from 'textarea/macro.njk' import textarea %}

{{ textarea({
  name: "example-longer",
  id: "example-longer",
  rows: "10",
  label: {
      text: "Can you provide more detail?"
  },
  hint: {
      text: "Do not include personal or financial information, for example, your National Insurance number or credit card details."
  }
}) }}
Close longer textarea code

Using hint text

Use hint text to give users help in context, for example, tell users what information to include or not to include.

Do not disable copy and paste

Users will often need to copy and paste information into a textarea, so do not stop them doing this.

Error messages

Style error messages like this.

Open this error textarea example in a new tab
Copy error textarea code 
<div class="nhsuk-form-group nhsuk-form-group--error">
  <label class="nhsuk-label" for="example-error">
    Why can&#39;t you provide a National Insurance number?
  </label>
  <span class="nhsuk-error-message" id="example-error-error">
    <span class="nhsuk-u-visually-hidden">Error:</span> You must provide an explanation.
  </span>
  <textarea class="nhsuk-textarea nhsuk-textarea--error" id="example-error" name="example-error" rows="5" aria-describedby="example-error-error"></textarea>
</div>
Close error textarea code
Nunjucks macro options

Use options to customise the appearance, content and behaviour of a component when using a macro, for example, changing the text.

Some options are required for the macro to work; these are marked as "Required" in the option description.

If you're using Nunjucks macros in production with "html" options, or ones ending with "html", you must sanitise the HTML to protect against cross-site scripting exploits.

Nunjucks arguments for error textarea
Name Type Required Description
id string true The id of the textarea.
name string true The name of the textarea, which is submitted with the form data.
rows string false Optional number of textarea rows (default is 5 rows).
value string false Optional initial value of the textarea.
describedBy string false One or more element IDs to add to the `aria-describedby` attribute, used to provide additional descriptive information for screenreader users.
label object true Options for the label component.
hint object false Options for the hint component.
errorMessage object false Options for the error message component. The error message component will not display if you use a falsy value for `errorMessage`, for example `false` or `null`.
autocomplete string false autocomplete attribute to identify input purpose, for instance "postal-code" or "username".
classes string false Classes to add to the textarea.
attributes object false HTML attributes (for example data attributes) to add to the textarea.
Copy error textarea code 
{% from 'textarea/macro.njk' import textarea %}

{{ textarea({
  name: "example-error",
  id: "example-error",
  label: {
    text: "Why can't you provide a National Insurance number?"
  },
  errorMessage: {
    text: "You must provide an explanation."
  }
}) }}
Close error textarea code

Follow:

Research

We tested the textarea component on a "Register with a GP" prototype at 2 labs in December 2018. Users understood the purpose of the textarea and were able to use it.

If you’ve used this component, get in touch to share your user research findings.

Help us improve this guidance

Share insights or feedback and take part in the discussion. We use GitHub as a collaboration space. All the information on it is open to the public.

Feedback or share insights on GitHub

Read more about how to feedback or share insights.

If you have any questions, get in touch with the service manual team.

Updated: January 2020