Handling Focus & Keyboard Traps in Modals

Welcome

Why Focus Traps Are Required

What Is a Focus Trap?

Finding Focusable Elements

const FOCUSABLE = [
  'a[href]', 'button:not([disabled])',
  'input:not([disabled])', 'select', 'textarea',
  '[tabindex]:not([tabindex="-1"])'
].join(',');

const focusable = Array.from(
  modalRef.current.querySelectorAll(FOCUSABLE)
);

Implementing the Trap

function handleTab(e) {
  const focusable = /* array of focusable elements */;
  const first = focusable[0];
  const last = focusable[focusable.length - 1];
  if (e.key !== 'Tab') return;
  if (e.shiftKey) {
    if (document.activeElement === first) {
      e.preventDefault(); last.focus();
    }
  } else {
    if (document.activeElement === last) {
      e.preventDefault(); first.focus();
    }
  }
}

Moving Focus on Open

useEffect(() => {
  if (isOpen) {
    const first = modalRef.current?.querySelector(FOCUSABLE);
    first?.focus();
  }
}, [isOpen]);

Restoring Focus on Close

const previousFocus = useRef(null);

useEffect(() => {
  if (isOpen) {
    previousFocus.current = document.activeElement;
  } else {
    previousFocus.current?.focus();
  }
}, [isOpen]);

Using the focus-trap-react Library

import FocusTrap from 'focus-trap-react';

{isOpen && (
  <FocusTrap>
    <div role="dialog" aria-modal="true">
      {children}
    </div>
  </FocusTrap>
)}

ARIA Attributes for Modals

<div
  role="dialog"
  aria-modal="true"
  aria-labelledby="modal-title"
>
  <h2 id="modal-title">Confirm Delete</h2>
  ...
</div>

Inert Attribute for Background

useEffect(() => {
  const root = document.getElementById('root');
  if (isOpen) root.setAttribute('inert', '');
  else root.removeAttribute('inert');
}, [isOpen]);

Quick Check

Recap

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