# Kbd

The key to press, drawn as the key: a small cap on a skirt with a dish worked into its top. Shortcuts come as combos and follow the platform, so ⌘ K on a Mac is Ctrl K elsewhere.

Kit part · With the Kit · https://tactileui.dev/parts/kbd

> The code and styling for this part come with the Tactile UI Kit, which is in the Founder Pass. Sign in if you have it. Sign in: https://tactileui.dev/auth/sign-in The price: https://tactileui.dev/pricing

## Anatomy

A cap is the key’s own anatomy scaled down: a face gradient with the catch-light along its top edge, a skirt of the darker metal one or two pixels below, and a shadow under that. Held, the cap drops by the height of its skirt and takes the pressed light, exactly as a key does.

## Variants

- Sizes
- A combo
- With plus signs
- Wide · space, enter
- In a sentence
- For the platform · Mac and PC

## States

- Rest
- Held down

## Props and options

| Name | Kind | Description |
| - | - | - |
| data-kbd · data-kbd-size · data-kbd-plus | attribute | On any element: kit.mjs fills it with the caps for the visitor’s platform. |
| Mod | key name | The platform’s main modifier. Others: Cmd (or Meta), Ctrl, Alt (or Option), Shift, Enter, Esc, Tab, Space, Backspace, Delete, Up, Down, Left, Right, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown. Any other name is printed as it is written; a single character is upper-cased. |
| data-kbd-live | attribute | The caps inside sink while their real keys are held. |
| kbdHTML(shortcut, options) | function | The parts of a shortcut, and its markup. Pure: the platform is an argument. |
| wireKbd(root) | function | Fill every [data-kbd] under root. Runs once on load; call it for markup you add later. |

## Usage notes

Press keys on your own keyboard: a cap sinks while its key is down. Try ⌘ or Ctrl, Shift, K, Esc, Enter and Space.

## Accessibility

- To press something, use a key.
- A symbol cap is hidden from assistive technology and its name is spoken instead, so ⌘ is read “Command” and ⇧ “Shift”, not by their code points.
- Where a shortcut differs by platform, the visitor sees their own; do not print the Mac symbols to everyone.
- The pressed state is a second cue, never the only one: it changes with a real key press and is not needed to use a page.

## Related parts

- [Key](https://tactileui.dev/parts/key): Every button, and every link that acts like one: a cap on a skirt that drops below the plate when pressed.
- [Command palette](https://tactileui.dev/parts/command): Every action and page behind one key: a modal plate whose entry line is a lit display, with the results printed below and the chosen one pressed in.
- [Menu](https://tactileui.dev/parts/menu): A card of actions and options that slides out from under its key. The key stays down while the card is out; an option that is on lights its lamp.