J3W1 / DESIGN SYSTEM
Empty state
What a container shows when it has nothing to list; a glyph, a heading in the bright text colour, one sentence in the muted colour and an optional secondary action.
stable · LIGHT DOM · 1.1.0
Light DOM retains static content, native semantics, label relationships and host composition without duplicating controls.
Live variants
with-action
No components match
Three filters are active; none of the 67 components passes all of them.
<j3w1-empty-state id="example-empty-state-with-action"><div class="empty-state">
<span class="empty-state-glyph" aria-hidden="true">∅</span>
<h3 class="empty-state-heading">No components match</h3>
<p class="empty-state-text">Three filters are active; none of the 67 components passes all of them.</p>
<button class="empty-state-action" type="button">Clear filters</button>
</div></j3w1-empty-state>without-action
No notifications
New ones appear here and in the corner of the screen.
<j3w1-empty-state id="example-empty-state-without-action"><div class="empty-state">
<span class="empty-state-glyph" aria-hidden="true">·</span>
<h3 class="empty-state-heading">No notifications</h3>
<p class="empty-state-text">New ones appear here and in the corner of the screen.</p>
</div></j3w1-empty-state>Install and register
Use the exact version. If npm publication is pending, install the release tarball from the installation guide.
npm install --save-exact @j3w1/ui@1.1.0import '@j3w1/ui/tokens.css';
import '@j3w1/ui/styles/empty-state.css';
import '@j3w1/ui/register/empty-state';Insert the maintained markup above after loading these imports. Its native children provide accessible names and form behavior; the empty custom tag alone does not create a control.
Copy the complete implementation
npx --package=@j3w1/ui@1.1.0 j3w1-ui copy empty-state --out ./vendor/j3w1/empty-stateThe CLI verifies every file before writing and refuses overwrites. Serve the output over HTTP and open index.html. Keep its modules, CSS, tokens and licence notices together.
Public API
attributes
| Name | Type / signature | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
disabled | CustomEvent | Disable the native controls owned by this instance. |
loading | CustomEvent | Mark the primary control busy and prevent duplicate activation. |
properties
| Name | Type / signature | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
disabled | boolean | Delegates disabled state to native children. |
name | string | Native control name; application form keys remain explicit. |
methods
| Name | Type / signature | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
refresh | (): void | Reconnect behavior after replacing native child structure. |
focus | (options?: FocusOptions): void | Focus the first usable native control. |
dismiss | (id?: string): void | Dismiss a message; focused actions move to the next available control. |
events
| Name | Type / signature | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
j3w1-dismiss | CustomEvent | Cancelable message dismissal. |
j3w1-retry | CustomEvent | Request recovery; the host owns the result. |
j3w1-action | CustomEvent | An explicit message action. |
Dependencies and verification
Registered components: none. Style dependencies: none.
Package presence establishes an available implementation. Actual passes depend on the tested artifact and environment. Read specification execution evidence; read packed-consumer evidence; inspect the complete state matrix.
Full implementation manifest, API and token dependency closure
Canonical specification
Purpose
A region with nothing in it says so, and says what would fill it. It replaces a blank pane, an empty table body or a list with no rows after a filter, and it offers the one action that changes that when there is one. A failure is the error state; a wait is the loading indicator.
Anatomy
The block on color.surface.default inside a 1px color.border.divider,
content centred; the glyph in color.icon.decorative; the heading in
color.text.bright; the sentence in color.text.muted; the optional
secondary action in color.action.secondary.text with a 1px
color.action.secondary.border.
States
| State | Visual | Non-colour channel |
|---|---|---|
| default | glyph, heading and sentence centred; the action, when present, below them | the worded heading; the action is a real button |
The block has no states of its own; the action takes the secondary button’s hover and ring.
Keyboard
Only the action is in the tab order. When a filter empties a list that had focus inside it, focus moves to the heading of the region, not into the empty state, so the person hears where they are.
Accessibility
The heading is a real heading at the level the region uses, so the empty
state appears in the outline; the sentence follows it in the reading order.
The glyph is aria-hidden. When content becomes empty after an action
(filter, delete), a polite live region announces the heading text. The
action is never the only route: filters can also be cleared where they were
set. Contrast: heading 10.10:1, sentence 5.66:1, action text 10.10:1 and its
border 4.33:1 on the panel surface.
Portability
Text and one optional button. Toolkits with a status page use it with the glyph as text; toolkits with only a placeholder string add the action as a separate button below the view.
Non-examples
An illustration or mascot. A primary (filled) call to action. A blank pane. A greyed-out table header with no message. A message that only says “No data”. A heading in the accent red. An empty state that appears while loading. Centred text in a rounded card with a shadow.