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Four different things, all called “the three dots” — click each one
The Three Dots (Overflow Menu)
/ <button> · aria-haspopup="menu" /
also called kebab menu, meatball menu, hamburger menu, overflow menu, more menu, ellipsis button
Three horizontal dots are commonly called meatballs and three vertical dots a kebab; both usually open an overflow or More menu of secondary actions. Three horizontal lines are a hamburger button and normally open navigation, often in a drawer. An ellipsis inside a label such as “Open…” is punctuation, not an overflow icon: it signals that the command needs more input before it can finish.
If you called it…
…you meant a the three dots (overflow menu).
Anatomy — every part, named
- 1Horizontal dots (meatballs / More)
button[aria-haspopup="menu"]Three horizontal dots are nicknamed meatballs and usually open an overflow or More menu for the current item or area.
- 2Vertical dots (kebab menu)
button[aria-haspopup="menu"]Three vertical dots are nicknamed a kebab and usually expose the same kind of secondary-actions menu.
- 3Three lines (hamburger menu)
button[aria-controls]Three horizontal lines are a hamburger button; unlike overflow dots, it normally opens the site's main navigation in a drawer.
- 4Command ellipsis
<button>Open…</button>The ellipsis in “Open…” means the command will ask for more input before it completes; the dots are part of the label.
Prompt — paste into your agent
Use the correct three-mark control: a horizontal ellipsis (meatballs) or vertical ellipsis (kebab) button with aria-haspopup="menu" for a contextual Overflow/More menu; a three-line hamburger button with aria-controls for a navigation drawer; or an ellipsis inside a command label such as “Open…” only when the command asks for more input before completing.
Debug prompt — when it misbehaves
Paste this, then describe what you’re seeing — it hands your agent the classic failure modes to rule out first.
Debug my three-dots menu (kebab/meatballs, menu button). Rule out: the icon-only button missing an aria-label; the menu staying open after an item is chosen; outside-click and Escape not closing it; a hit target well under 24px so taps miss on mobile. The symptom:
In code
The exact names this thing goes by in code — each row is one framework’s word for it. Use the row that matches your project (or paste it into your prompt).
| HTML | <button> | |
| ARIA | aria-haspopup="menu" | |
| ARIA | aria-expanded="true|false" | |
| CSS | text-overflow: ellipsis | unrelated truncation ellipsis |