fix(overlays): show focus indicators only during keyboard navigation and improve focus management by brandyscarney · Pull Request #31165 · ionic-team/ionic-framework

brandyscarney · 2026-05-22T16:22:48Z

Issue number: internal

What is the current behavior?

The focus indicator is displayed on the option when opening certain interfaces by clicking on the Select component:

Modal	Popover

What is the new behavior?

Hide the focus indicator when the Select component is opened using pointer events
Display the focus indicator when the Select component is opened using keyboard navigation (Space or Enter)
Cycle focus through the Select elements (radios, handle, cancel buttons) in the correct order and allow Shift + Tab to go backwards in order
Removes the native focus from Checkbox and does not allow focusable when inside of an item (this matches Radio's behavior)
Adds e2e tests for focus functionality in both Select and Modal to avoid future regressions

Does this introduce a breaking change?

Yes
No

Other information

vercel · 2026-05-22T16:22:54Z

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
ionic-framework	Ready	Preview, Comment	Jun 12, 2026 10:31pm

brandyscarney · 2026-06-01T16:32:24Z

@@ -114,10 +114,6 @@ slot[name="end"]::slotted(*) {

 // Item in Select Modal
 // --------------------------------------------------
-:host(.in-select-modal) {


This was added to hide the focused state.

brandyscarney · 2026-06-01T16:35:05Z

@@ -15,11 +15,6 @@ ion-item {
  --border-width: 0;
 }

-ion-item.ion-focused::part(native)::after {


This was added to hide the focused state.

brandyscarney · 2026-06-01T17:10:29Z

The ionic theme wasn't added to this test so now it is generating screenshots.

brandyscarney · 2026-06-01T17:11:32Z

The focus indicator is no longer displayed when opening with a mouse click.

brandyscarney · 2026-06-01T17:11:39Z

The focus indicator is no longer displayed when opening with a mouse click.

brandyscarney · 2026-06-01T17:12:01Z

The focus indicator is no longer displayed when opening with a mouse click.

brandyscarney · 2026-06-01T17:12:06Z

The focus indicator is no longer displayed when opening with a mouse click.

brandyscarney · 2026-06-01T17:13:42Z

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import { configs, test } from '@utils/test/playwright';
 * does not. The overlay rendering is already tested in the respective
 * test files.
 */
-configs({ directions: ['ltr'] }).forEach(({ title, config, screenshot }) => {
+configs({ modes: ['ios', 'md', 'ionic-md'], directions: ['ltr'] }).forEach(({ title, config, screenshot }) => {


This now checks for the ionic theme and captures screenshots to avoid future focus behavior regressions.

brandyscarney · 2026-06-01T23:16:46Z

          'checkbox-checked': checked,
          'checkbox-disabled': disabled,
-          'ion-focusable': true,
+          // Focus styling should not apply when the checkbox is in an item
+          'ion-focusable': !inItem,


This matches radio behavior. Otherwise when a checkbox in an item has focus (such as inside of a select popover) the item and checkbox will both show a focus indicator.

brandyscarney · 2026-06-02T13:55:41Z

This was removed intentionally because we don't want to show the native focus when we are adding our own. We need to add some ion-focused styles to checkbox for ios and md to fix this. Should I make a follow-up?

brandyscarney · 2026-06-02T14:11:36Z

-      test('holding Enter to open a popover should not immediately dismiss it', async ({ page, skip }, testInfo) => {
-        // TODO (ROU-5437)
-        skip.browser('webkit', 'Safari 16 only allows text fields and pop-up menus to be focused.');
-


I updated the keyboard presses to this:

-await page.keyboard.press('Enter'); +await pageUtils.pressKeys('Enter');

This handles Safari tabbing so we are able to check Safari again in most of these tests.

ShaneK

This is looking really good! I tested the functionality and the changes here seem to work fine, but I noticed some things and just wanted a bit of clarification. Good work so far, though!

ShaneK · 2026-06-03T13:38:07Z

+ * Order: option controls (radio/checkbox) → sheet handle → end-slot
+ * header button. Any other focusables are appended after.
+ */
+const sortSheetModalFocusables = (overlay: HTMLElement, elements: HTMLElement[]): HTMLElement[] => {


This adds a fair bit of component-specific structure to the generic overlay trap: sortSheetModalFocusables knows the sheet layout, and elsewhere the trap matches ion-select-modal, .action-sheet-button, .modal-handle, select-interface-option, and the header Cancel button by their private class names. Before this PR the trap only knew to exclude ion-toast, so each of these selectors is now an implicit contract that breaks Tab order if those components get restyled. The roving-tabindex resolution feels general enough to live here, but would it be cleaner for the components to tag their participating elements with a shared marker (a data- attr or one documented class) the trap reads generically? Or I guess we could at least leave a note at each class definition that it's load-bearing for the focus trap?

Thank you for calling this out! I went back and forth and decided on adding three new data- attributes that the focus trap can read to determine the order: 9e200ed

I also added some documentation explaining these new markers: 272c7f7

Let me know if you think anything should be changed!

ShaneK · 2026-06-03T13:40:24Z

          'checkbox-disabled': disabled,
-          'ion-focusable': true,
+          // Focus styling should not apply when the checkbox is in an item
+          'ion-focusable': !inItem,


Bringing checkbox to parity with radio here makes sense. One edge case worth confirming: in a multi-input item hasCover() is false, so the item won't carry ion-focusable either, and the checkbox was the .ion-focusable child the item relied on. Does a checkbox sitting next to a second input still show a focus ring somewhere when you tab to it? Radio has the same shape today so I don't think it's a blocker, just want to make sure it's intentional.

This is indeed an issue but it is a bigger issue than I think this ticket should handle. After my change, an item with two checkboxes shows no focus state on the item or the individual checkboxes, but before this change it didn't show a focus state for the individual checkboxes either. Radio seems to have the same pre-existing issue.

The bigger problem here seems to be Checkbox lacks focus styles entirely for ios and md. Radio has them with the ion-focused class, see:

But Checkbox doesn't have any at all:

As a result I have created two tickets to follow up on this:

Add checkbox focus indicator: FW-7585

Multiple inputs in item lack individual focus: FW-7586

ShaneK · 2026-06-03T13:42:17Z

 * test files.
 */
-configs({ directions: ['ltr'] }).forEach(({ title, config, screenshot }) => {
+configs({ modes: ['ios', 'md', 'ionic-md'], directions: ['ltr'] }).forEach(({ title, config, screenshot }) => {


You're widening this to ionic-md but not ionic-ios, even though the item.ionic.scss and select-modal.ionic.scss changes apply to both Ionic modes. Was leaving out ionic-ios deliberate?

Yes, I think adding ionic-ios would add a lot of screenshots with no benefit. The visual difference between the ios and md modes is nonexistent because the ionic theme applies the same structure and styles regardless of the mode.

Here is the same screenshot for the ionic theme in each mode:

ionic-md ionic-ios

I also confirmed there are no behavioral differences between the two modes across all four select interfaces:

Identical focusable elements rendered in both modes.

The focus sequence through each interface is the same, as the focus-trap and roving focus logic are not mode-dependent.

So ionic-ios coverage here would only duplicate ionic-md. If we add different behavior in the future based on the mode I could see a reason to add it.

fix(overlays): properly focus elements in a sheet modal

641d05e

brandyscarney requested a review from a team as a code owner May 22, 2026 16:22

brandyscarney requested a review from thetaPC May 22, 2026 16:22

brandyscarney marked this pull request as draft May 22, 2026 16:22

github-actions Bot added the package: core @ionic/core package label May 22, 2026

vercel Bot deployed to Preview May 22, 2026 16:28 View deployment

style: lint

3278a01

vercel Bot deployed to Preview May 22, 2026 16:58 View deployment

brandyscarney added 4 commits May 29, 2026 14:10

fix(item): add the focus styles for ionic theme

808c193

fix(select): hide the focus ring when initially opening an interface

ceecf4d

test(select): add ionic theme to basic test

a3377a3

chore(): add updated snapshots

17983b1

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 1, 2026 14:44 View deployment

brandyscarney added 2 commits June 1, 2026 11:42

test(select): add tests to verify interface focused behavior on click

add3c34

chore(): add updated snapshots

31665fa

brandyscarney force-pushed the FW-6922 branch from 3fb8b4c to 31665fa Compare June 1, 2026 15:49

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 1, 2026 15:55 View deployment

brandyscarney commented Jun 1, 2026

View reviewed changes

brandyscarney added 4 commits June 1, 2026 18:27

fix(select): suppress the focus visible for alert only

1aa5b7c

fix(checkbox): hide the native focus state to match radio

641419f

test(select): add tests for keyboard focus behavior and remove skips

395987c

chore(): add updated snapshots

ea55440

brandyscarney commented Jun 1, 2026

View reviewed changes

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 1, 2026 23:20 View deployment

chore(): add updated snapshots

4bd07bf

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 1, 2026 23:36 View deployment

brandyscarney commented Jun 2, 2026

View reviewed changes

Merge branch 'next' into FW-6922

7abfe13

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 2, 2026 14:42 View deployment

chore(): add updated snapshots

1d0b267

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 2, 2026 15:00 View deployment

chore(): revert snapshots

29e7e8e

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 2, 2026 15:06 View deployment

fix(overlays): properly navigate between action sheet options

a11a5c9

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 2, 2026 17:53 View deployment

brandyscarney changed the title ~~fix(overlays): properly focus elements in a sheet modal~~ fix(overlays): show focus indicators only during keyboard navigation and improve focus management Jun 2, 2026

brandyscarney marked this pull request as ready for review June 2, 2026 18:27

ShaneK requested changes Jun 3, 2026

View reviewed changes

brandyscarney added 2 commits June 12, 2026 15:01

refactor(utils): update focus trap to be component-agnostic

9e200ed

docs(component-guide): add a section on the new overlay focus markers

272c7f7

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 12, 2026 19:19 View deployment

Merge branch 'next' into FW-6922

f4a33db

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 12, 2026 21:38 View deployment

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 12, 2026 21:45 View deployment

brandyscarney and others added 2 commits June 12, 2026 18:00

refactor(item): remove old styles

7951ac3

chore(): add updated snapshots

26048b9

brandyscarney force-pushed the FW-6922 branch from 72030b2 to 26048b9 Compare June 12, 2026 22:00

brandyscarney requested a review from ShaneK June 12, 2026 22:02

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 12, 2026 22:06 View deployment

chore(): add updated snapshots

86edcb5

vercel Bot deployed to Preview June 12, 2026 22:31 View deployment

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brandyscarney commented May 22, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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What is the current behavior?

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