WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Semi-inert modals

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Mar 31, 2022 1:04PM

Oh, just to clarify, there are a lot of cases for non-modal dialogs as
Bryan pointed out.
I am confused by the need for a semi-modal dialog, a dialog that
blocks interaction with the entire main content of the page while
allowing interactions with the page header and footer.


On 3/31/22, Bryan Garaventa via WebAIM-Forum
< <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hi,
> Actually there are use cases for non-modal dialogs. Here is one, a
> datepicker where it is still possible to interact with background content.
> https://whatsock.com/Templates/Datepickers/Basic/index.htm
>
> From a keyboard perspective on Windows using a screen reader like JAWS or
> NVDA, the dialog seems modal because the user perspective is confined within
> the dialog content. However, this is not true for touch device users such as
> those using VoiceOver on iOS for example. In this last case, it is possible
> to interact with the background content, which is important because the
> triggering element is actually a toggle that can be used to dismiss the
> dialog by touch.
>
> There are times when it is important to implement a non-modal dialog, and in
> this case, adding aria-modal="true" will actually impaire the accessibility
> of the widget by hiding the background content from iOS touch device users
> by making the background content inaccessible. This automatically occurs
> without the use of aria-hidden within this environment.
>
>
>
> Bryan Garaventa
> Principal Accessibility Architect
> Level Access, Inc.
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> 415.624.2709 (o)
> www.LevelAccess.com
>
>