Fieldset

Group unrelated controls under one native legend. CSS only

Choosing between components

Use Fieldset to group controls that are not one field — an address block, a billing section. For a set of radios or checkboxes that answer one question, Checkbox Group and Radio Group sit on .ui-choice-group, which strips the native chrome because the set reads as a single field.

Markup you author

Keep the <legend> the first child: that is what makes the browser treat it as the group name, and no ARIA substitutes for it. Native disabled on the <fieldset> disables and un-submits everything inside it, including form-associated custom elements, which is why the group needs no disabled attribute of its own.

Fieldset

Copy this markup

<fieldset class="ui-fieldset" aria-describedby="billing-description">
  <legend>Billing address</legend>
  <p id="billing-description" data-ui-part="description">Used on every invoice for this workspace.</p>
  <div class="ui-field">
  <label class="ui-label" for="billing-street">Street</label>
  <div data-ui-part="control">
    <input class="ui-input" id="billing-street" name="street" type="text" placeholder="12 Copperfield Way">

  </div>
</div>
  <div class="ui-field">
  <label class="ui-label" for="billing-city">City</label>
  <div data-ui-part="control">
    <input class="ui-input" id="billing-city" name="city" type="text">

  </div>
</div>

</fieldset>

Install

Styles and registration

import '@timelessui/components/css/tokens.css'
import '@timelessui/components/css/core/forms.css'
import '@timelessui/components/css/themes/atmosphere/tokens.css'
import '@timelessui/components/css/themes/atmosphere/forms.css'

Anatomy

Parts are authored in your own markup and identified by the selector below, so your CSS can target the same anatomy without loading Timeless styles. Required parts must be present for the component to work. Private data-ui-internal-* hooks are written by the runtime and must never be authored.

ui-fieldset

Part	Required	Selector	Purpose
legend	Yes	legend	The native <legend>, which names the group. Keep it the first child, because that is what makes the browser treat it as the group label.
description	No	[data-ui-part~='description']	Group-level help text under the legend.
error	No	[data-ui-part~='error']	Group-level validation message.

ui-field

Part	Required	Selector	Purpose
control	No	[data-ui-part~='control']	Wrapper around the native control when one is needed.

Attributes

Every value below is implemented by the stylesheets this component ships. Boolean attributes are presence-based: author the attribute with no value, or omit it.

ui-fieldset

Attribute	Values	Default	Description
data-ui-density	compact · normal · spacious	normal	Gap between grouped controls, and the padding around them.

ui-field

Attribute	Values	Default	Description
data-ui-layout	stacked · inline	stacked	Whether the label sits above the control or beside it.
data-ui-density	compact · normal · spacious	normal	Gap between label, control, description, and error.

ui-input

Attribute	Values	Default	Description
data-ui-size	sm · md · lg	md	Control height, padding, and font size.

State

Native attributes, ARIA, and platform pseudo-classes are authoritative. Style state through the selectors below rather than adding your own state classes.

State	Source	How to express it
invalid	aria	Set aria-invalid="true" on the <fieldset> and point aria-describedby at the error part.
disabled	native	Native disabled on the <fieldset>, which the browser propagates to every control inside it.
invalid	aria	Set aria-invalid="true" on the control and point aria-describedby at the error part.
invalid	native	Native :invalid, or aria-invalid="true".
disabled	native	Native disabled.

Styling

Root identity: ui-fieldset, ui-field, ui-label, ui-input, ui-description. Required stylesheets: tokens.css, core/forms.css, themes/atmosphere/tokens.css, themes/atmosphere/forms.css.

This component adds no custom properties of its own. Restyle it through the design tokens or your own CSS.

Design tokens this component reads (26)

These are global Atmosphere tokens. Change them once at the theme level rather than per component.

--ui-accent · --ui-bg-control · --ui-bg-control-muted · --ui-bg-surface · --ui-bg-surface-subtle · --ui-danger · --ui-danger-soft · --ui-disabled-opacity · --ui-duration-fast · --ui-ease-standard · --ui-fg · --ui-fg-muted · --ui-fg-subtle · --ui-focus · --ui-line · --ui-line-strong · --ui-radius-md · --ui-radius-pill · --ui-radius-sm · --ui-shadow-control · --ui-shadow-inset · --ui-space-1 · --ui-space-2 · --ui-space-3 · --ui-space-4 · --ui-space-5

Accessibility

Keep the native elements, roles, and relationships shown in the example. Timeless adds only the state and keyboard coordination the platform does not already provide, and it never supplies your accessible names — those depend on your content.

This component declares no keyboard contract, because it has none of its own: the markup above is native elements and native ARIA, and everything a keyboard or a screen reader does with it comes from the platform. Nothing here manages focus, and nothing here adds a role you did not author. So the accessibility of this component is the accessibility of the markup — which is why the markup is the part worth copying exactly.

Before JavaScript runs

This primitive is CSS only. There is nothing to register and nothing to wait for.

More examples

Open Fieldset in StoryLite for variants, controls, and manual testing.