fix(modal): focus the dialog wrapper on present so screen readers can enter the modal#31260
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…resent
IONIC-91 / FW-7611: Android TalkBack users could not navigate into or
interact with modal content after opening it.
`present()` in overlays.ts moved DOM focus to `overlay.el` (the shadow
host) when no descendant was already focused. Every overlay built on
this shared utility (modal, alert, action-sheet, loading, popover)
declares `role="dialog"`/`aria-modal` on an inner `.ion-overlay-wrapper`
element inside its shadow root, never on the host itself. Focusing the
host therefore handed assistive tech a focus target with no accessible
role or name, so TalkBack's accessibility-focus never landed on the
actual dialog and its linear navigation cursor never entered the
overlay's content.
Focus the `.ion-overlay-wrapper` instead (falling back to the host if
none exists), and make modal's wrapper focusable via tabIndex={-1} so
the retargeted focus() call actually takes effect.
…ually focusable Alert declares role="alertdialog" and tabindex="0" on .alert-wrapper, so redirecting focus there (as done for modal) is correct and already works. Action-sheet, loading, and popover keep role/aria-modal on the host and never gave .ion-overlay-wrapper a tabindex, so it was never meant to be focused directly. The previous version of this fix called .focus() on that non-focusable wrapper unconditionally, which silently failed and left focus on <body> instead of the host -- a regression against their prior, correct behavior. Guard the redirect on the wrapper actually declaring a tabindex so only overlays authored to use it are affected; others keep focusing the host exactly as before.
Popover set aria-modal="true" on the host but declared no role at all. Per the ARIA spec, aria-modal is only defined on elements with role dialog or alertdialog, so assistive technologies were silently ignoring it -- popovers were never actually exposed as modal to screen readers. ion-select already declares aria-haspopup="dialog" on its trigger when using the popover interface, so this also fixes a pre-existing mismatch between what select promised and what the popover actually exposed. Default to role="dialog", placed before the htmlAttributes spread so consumers can still override it (e.g. role="menu") the same way modal and alert allow.
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gnbm
changed the title
…ocus for sheet/card
The initial fix made the modal's `.modal-wrapper` (which carries
role="dialog") the focus target on present so Android TalkBack can enter
the dialog. For sheet and iOS card modals that wrapper is also the
drag-gesture surface: leaving focus on it interferes with pointer-drag
recognition (observed as the sheet "drag events" e2e timing out on
Firefox). Real users are unaffected (the gesture works once focus
settles), but it is a genuine behavior change and broke a merge-gating
test.
Scope the wrapper `tabIndex={-1}` to default modals only. Sheet and card
modals keep focusing the host exactly as before, so their drag gestures
are untouched, while the reported IONIC-91 case (default modal) still
gets the accessible focus target. Also focus the wrapper with
`preventScroll` so the a11y focus move never scrolls the viewport.
Review + a new axe scan showed that defaulting role="dialog" on ion-popover makes every *unlabeled* popover fail axe's serious `aria-dialog-name` rule (an ARIA dialog must have an accessible name) -- a consumer-facing regression. Revert the popover role change (and its tests) so this PR stays scoped to the verified modal (IONIC-91) focus fix. Popover's missing role can be revisited with a proper accessible- name strategy. Also tighten the modal a11y test comment to match the surrounding concise style.
gnbm
changed the title
Match the focus-assertion style used across the modal suite (expect(locator).toBeFocused()) and the existing `.modal-wrapper` locator in this file, instead of a manual page.evaluate over shadowRoot.activeElement.
gnbm
changed the title
gnbm
commented
Jul 2, 2026
Co-authored-by: Brandy Smith <brandyscarney@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Brandy Smith <brandyscarney@users.noreply.github.com>
…dals too The wrapper now carries tabindex=-1 for all modal types, not just the default modal, so present() moves focus to the element that declares the dialog role and TalkBack users can enter sheet and card modals. The previous exclusion existed because making the wrapper focusable made the 'sheet modal: drag events' e2e hang on Firefox. Root cause: Gecko treats an element with tabindex as a selection root - a pointer press inside it places a text caret, and a later press over that caret starts a native drag and drop session instead of delivering pointer events. The gesture then never receives the final pointerup. The sheet and swipe-to-close gestures now cancel any native dragstart while a drag is active, which prevents the hijack without affecting drag and drop when the modal is not being dragged. Adds wrapper-focus e2e coverage for sheet and card modals.
…le options
present() runs on a critical path, so wrap the focus({ preventScroll })
call in a try/catch that falls back to a plain focus(). This keeps the
no-scroll behavior on modern browsers while ensuring a focus call can
never reject present() on an engine that mishandles the options object.
joselrio
approved these changes
Jul 14, 2026
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After looking into the suggested stuff and also run tests around this directly on the android device through the https://github.com/OutSystems/ui-comp-ionic-sandboxes repo and everything's running as expected.
codeCraft-Ritik
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This is a well-considered fix. Updating focus management to target the dialog element makes the modal much more accessible for screen reader users, while preserving compatibility with overlays that keep the role on the host. The cross-browser consideration is a nice touch.
brandyscarney
approved these changes
Jul 16, 2026
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Issue number: internal
What is the current behavior?
When a modal is opened with Android TalkBack enabled, the screen reader cannot enter or navigate the modal's content. On present, focus is moved to the modal host, but the host is role-less. The
role="dialog",aria-modal, and the label live on the inner.ion-overlay-wrapperso assistive technologies have no dialog to land on.What is the new behavior?
present()now focuses the overlay's[role="dialog"]element (the wrapper) instead of the role-less host, falling back to the host when the role is on the host (action-sheet, loading).tabIndex="-1"so it can receive that programmatic focus (an element with onlyrole="dialog"is not focusable). Its focus ring is suppressed since the focus is programmatic, not keyboard-driven.modal/test/a11y/modal.e2e.tsto verify no visible outline added to the wrapper.utils/test/overlays/overlays.e2e.tsto verify the focus is on the wrapper instead of the host for all modals.mouse.down()to prevent the selection from blocking gesture detection in the test environment.