Re: modal / popups catching tabs - ADA rules?

On 11/06/2021 10:17, bryan rasmussen wrote:
> Hey,
> 
> I recently saw a tutorial where someone suggested that in a modal (and
> I believe also popups) according to ADA rules that the user should be
> prevented from tabbing out of the modal / popup.
> 
> That seems sort of weird to me since I would normally just think I
> allow you to tab out and when you do I close the modal and give your
> the focus outside the modal to wherever you are at (same applies
> popup) - at first I thought well ok that's the way the ADA wants it
> but the more I thought about it the more it seems just wrong to me.
> 
> So is the way I would normally do it correct or was the article
> actually correct that the ADA would require you to prevent the user
> from tabbing out of such a container? If so, can you clarify the
> reasoning for me?

The ADA itself doesn't go into such deep technical detail, so it's best 
to avoid statements like "the ADA rules require...", and more 
specifically referencing WCAG or Section 508 or similar that actually 
touch on technicalities...

Generally, for modal dialogs, there is ideally an expectation that focus 
will be contained inside the modal until the user explicitly closes it. 
See https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-practices-1.1/#dialog_modal

If the modal auto-closes if you tab out of its bounds...not 100% sure it 
would be a hard failure of WCAG (e.g. under 2.4.3 Focus Order 
https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/#focus-order), but it's certainly 
unexpected and likely not good usability (imagine a screen reader user 
who can't actually see where the modal starts/ends ... they'll just 
navigate through it and, without knowing it, navigate out and close it).

Popups/tooltips are slightly more controversial. Some people see them as 
tiny modal dialogs, while others look at them more like disclosure 
widgets or similar where focus should not be contained. It often depends 
on the amount of information/controls and type of popup.

P
-- 
Patrick H. Lauke

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Received on Friday, 11 June 2021 09:48:56 UTC