aria-modal attribute (aria)
Support level: partial (14/27)
On this page
Indicates whether an element is modal when displayed. For more robust support, consider making the rest of the document inert when an element has aria-modal=true.
Expectations
Expectations are conditions that must be met for the feature to be considered as "supported". Only "MUST" expectations need to be met for minimal "support". "SHOULD" and "MAY" expectations indicates support that goes above and beyond. Note that there is not an explicit standard that dictates these expectations, and as such, they are likely opinionated. As such, a feature might not meet all "MUST" expectations but still be usable (potentially frustratingly so). Additionally, the assistive technology may provide many different commands to read, navigate, or otherwise interact with a feature. Only one command is required to pass for the expectation to be minimally supported.
Summary of support by expectation type
| MUST | SHOULD | MAY |
|---|---|---|
| partial (5/9) | partial (9/18) | unknown |
Summary of support by expectation and assistive technology
| Expectation | Dragon Naturally Speaking | JAWS | Narrator | NVDA | TalkBack | VoiceOver for iOS | VoiceOver for macOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MUST convey the presence of aria-model=true | not applicable | supported | none | supported | none | partial | partial |
| SHOULD limit reading to children of aria-modal=true | not applicable | supported | none | supported | none | partial | supported |
| SHOULD remove outside content from navigational shortcuts when aria-modal=true | not applicable | partial | none | supported | none | supported | none |
The screen reader MUST convey the presence of aria-model=true
Rationale: Users need to be aware that other content is obscured by the modal.
| AT | Browser | Has Support |
|---|---|---|
| Dragon Naturally Speaking | Google Chrome | not applicable |
| JAWS | Google Chrome | supported |
| JAWS | Internet Explorer | supported |
| JAWS | Firefox (desktop) | supported |
| Narrator | Microsoft Edge | none |
| NVDA | Google Chrome | supported |
| NVDA | Firefox (desktop) | supported |
| TalkBack | Google Chrome (android) | none |
| VoiceOver for iOS | Safari (iOS) | partial |
| VoiceOver for macOS | Safari (macOS) | partial |
This expectation is referenced by 1 tests.
Tests that reference this expectation
| test name | has support |
|---|---|
| APG 1.1 modal dialog example | partial (38/54) |
The screen reader SHOULD limit reading to children of aria-modal=true
Rationale: Users should not be able to access content outside of the modal. However, AT are not required to implement this functionality per the ARIA spec, and authors may implement this on their own.
| AT | Browser | Has Support |
|---|---|---|
| Dragon Naturally Speaking | Google Chrome | not applicable |
| JAWS | Google Chrome | supported |
| JAWS | Internet Explorer | supported |
| JAWS | Firefox (desktop) | supported |
| Narrator | Microsoft Edge | none |
| NVDA | Google Chrome | supported |
| NVDA | Firefox (desktop) | supported |
| TalkBack | Google Chrome (android) | none |
| VoiceOver for iOS | Safari (iOS) | partial |
| VoiceOver for macOS | Safari (macOS) | supported |
This expectation is referenced by 1 tests.
Tests that reference this expectation
| test name | has support |
|---|---|
| APG 1.1 modal dialog example | partial (38/54) |
The screen reader SHOULD remove outside content from navigational shortcuts when aria-modal=true
Rationale: Users should not be able to access content outside of the modal. However, AT are not required to implement this functionality per the ARIA spec, and authors may implement this on their own.
| AT | Browser | Has Support |
|---|---|---|
| Dragon Naturally Speaking | Google Chrome | not applicable |
| JAWS | Google Chrome | partial |
| JAWS | Internet Explorer | partial |
| JAWS | Firefox (desktop) | partial |
| Narrator | Microsoft Edge | none |
| NVDA | Google Chrome | supported |
| NVDA | Firefox (desktop) | supported |
| TalkBack | Google Chrome (android) | none |
| VoiceOver for iOS | Safari (iOS) | supported |
| VoiceOver for macOS | Safari (macOS) | none |
This expectation is referenced by 1 tests.
Tests that reference this expectation
| test name | has support |
|---|---|
| APG 1.1 modal dialog example | partial (38/54) |
The screen reader MUST NOT convey the aria-modal attribute or limit navigation when aria-modal=false
No tests reference this expectation yet.