Crafting an Accessible Menubar Component with React
As frontend developers, we strive to create interfaces that are both visually appealing and accessible to all users. In this article, we’ll explore the process of building an accessible menubar component with React, focusing on the WAI-ARIA design pattern.
Understanding the Requirements
Our goal is to create a horizontal menubar with a single submenu, utilizing React hooks and the compound component pattern. We’ll assume you’re familiar with these concepts. Our menubar will consist of a collection of hyperlinks grouped in an unordered list, wrapped in a navigation section.
Designing the Menubar
Let’s start by creating two functional components: Menubar and MenuItem. The Menubar component returns an unordered list element, assigning it the menubar role and aria-orientation attribute. The MenuItem component accepts a single node as its children prop and returns the node wrapped in a list item element.
Enhancing Accessibility
To make our menubar accessible, we’ll utilize the React createContext() and useEffect() hooks. We’ll create a MenubarContext to store a Set of nested MenuItem nodes within a parent Menubar. This allows us to manipulate the Set contents without re-rendering the Menubar.
Roving Tab Index
To manage focus within the component, we’ll apply the roving tab index pattern. We’ll store the indexes of the current and previously focused MenuItem in the Menubar‘s component state. We’ll then use the useEffect() hook to update the tab index of each MenuItem based on the user’s navigation.
Keyboard Controls
Next, we’ll add keyboard support to our menubar. We’ll define helper methods to navigate through the menu items, including moving to the previous item, next item, first item, last item, and matching items. We’ll then assign these methods to the appropriate key codes.
The Submenu
To create a submenu, we’ll define a new compound component, Submenu, composed of three functional components: Submenu, Trigger, and List. We’ll create a SubmenuContext to keep track of menu items nested within a Submenu.
Trigger and List Components
The Trigger component will allow users to expand the submenu, while the List component will display the expanded menu items. We’ll add keyboard support to the Trigger component, including opening the submenu and focusing on the first item.
Putting it all Together
With our accessible menubar and submenu components in place, we can now create a fully functional navigation system. We’ll ensure that each menu item provides rich contextual information to assistive technology and allows users to navigate the list of links using keyboard controls.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve explored the process of building an accessible menubar component with React, focusing on the WAI-ARIA design pattern. By following these guidelines, we can create interfaces that are both visually appealing and accessible to all users.