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Re: Semi-inert modals

for

From: Bryan Garaventa
Date: Mar 31, 2022 9:00PM

No problem.˜Š

Modals are important when it is necessary for the user to interact with it before they are permitted to continue interacting with the page. E.G. Session timeout dialogs, login prompts, wizards, and many others.

It is especially important to implement modals properly to ensure that the background content is hidden from screen reader users, otherwise it is possible for the user to accedentally get lost in the background content when navigating instead of interacting with the dialog as they are supposed to be doing. This is critical when dealing with license agreements and other prompts that must be acknowledged, or when navigating wizards that require a particular order to be followed when completing form data.

The issue with exposing the header and footer is not really the problem, but rather, if the user is interacting with the header or footer content, they will also have access to the background main body content as well and will not be interacting with the dialog as expected, nor will they be able to reliably identify where it is located in the page. This is always an issue when using a screen reader such as JAWS or NVDA on Windows where the Virtual Cursor or Browse Navigation allows the user to move around within a virtual representation of the page content instead of what is on the top layer as occurs with VoiceOver on iOS (when touching and not swiping.).




Bryan Garaventa
Principal Accessibility Architect
Level Access, Inc.
<EMAIL REMOVED>
415.624.2709 (o)
www.LevelAccess.com