Dialog

Enhance an authored native dialog with focus management. Custom element

Markup you author

The trigger and the close buttons carry command and commandfor, so the dialog opens, closes, and reports a returnValue before any script runs. Those attributes are yours to write: Timeless reads them and leaves the invocation to the platform, because a generated commandfor would only work once the bundle had loaded. Give the <dialog> an explicit id for them to name — an invoker cannot reference a generated one. Where Invoker Commands are missing, the component falls back to a click listener that does the same work, so the same markup is correct in every browser.

Dialog

Copy this markup

<ui-dialog>
  <button class="ui-button" data-ui-part="trigger" type="button" command="show-modal" commandfor="release-dialog">Open dialog</button>
  <dialog id="release-dialog" aria-labelledby="release-dialog-title" aria-describedby="release-dialog-description">
    <header>
      <h2 id="release-dialog-title">Publish release?</h2>
      <p id="release-dialog-description">Confirm the public package.</p>
    </header>
    <section>
      <p>Package checks have passed.</p>
    </section>
    <footer>
      <button class="ui-button" data-ui-variant="secondary" data-ui-part="close" type="button" command="close" commandfor="release-dialog" value="cancel">Cancel</button>
      <button class="ui-button" data-ui-part="close" type="button" command="close" commandfor="release-dialog" value="confirm">Confirm</button>
    </footer>
  </dialog>
</ui-dialog>

Install

Styles and registration

import '@timelessui/components/css/tokens.css'
import '@timelessui/components/css/button.css'
import '@timelessui/components/css/dialog.css'
import '@timelessui/components/define/ui-dialog'

Anatomy

Parts are authored in your own markup and identified by the selector below, so your CSS can target the same anatomy without loading Timeless styles. Required parts must be present for the component to work. Private data-ui-internal-* hooks are written by the runtime and must never be authored.

Part	Required	Selector	Purpose
trigger	Yes	[data-ui-part~='trigger']	Native button that opens the dialog. Add command="show-modal" and commandfor naming the panel id to open it from markup, before any script runs. Timeless reads those attributes and stands down; it never writes them, because a generated attribute would only work once the bundle had loaded.
panel	Yes	dialog	The native <dialog> element. Author it, do not generate it. Give it an explicit id when a trigger or close button invokes it, since an invoker can only name an id the author wrote.
close	No	[data-ui-part~='close']	Optional explicit close button inside the panel. Add command="close" and commandfor to close it from markup; the platform then also copies the button value into returnValue.

Attributes

Every value below is implemented by the stylesheets this component ships. Boolean attributes are presence-based: author the attribute with no value, or omit it.

Attribute	Values	Default	Description
kind	dialog · alert	dialog	Whether the panel is a regular dialog or an alert dialog. alert resolves to role="alertdialog", for a destructive confirmation the user must answer.

Element API

Attributes above are the authoring surface. These are the DOM properties and events the registered element adds once it upgrades.

<ui-dialog>

Property	Type	Notes
kind	'dialog' | 'alert'	Reflects the kind attribute, documented above.

This element dispatches no component events.

Styling

Root identity: ui-dialog. Required stylesheets: tokens.css, button.css, dialog.css.

This component adds no custom properties of its own. Restyle it through the design tokens or your own CSS.

Design tokens this component reads (30)

These are global Atmosphere tokens. Change them once at the theme level rather than per component.

--ui-accent · --ui-bg-accent · --ui-bg-accent-active · --ui-bg-accent-hover · --ui-bg-control · --ui-bg-control-active · --ui-bg-control-hover · --ui-bg-control-muted · --ui-bg-danger · --ui-bg-danger-active · --ui-bg-danger-hover · --ui-bg-surface · --ui-bg-surface-subtle · --ui-duration-fast · --ui-ease-standard · --ui-fg · --ui-fg-muted · --ui-focus · --ui-line · --ui-radius-control · --ui-radius-lg · --ui-shadow-control-accent · --ui-shadow-control-active · --ui-shadow-control-danger · --ui-shadow-floating · --ui-shadow-outline-control · --ui-space-2 · --ui-space-3 · --ui-space-4 · --ui-space-5

Accessibility

Keep the native elements, roles, and relationships shown in the example. Timeless adds only the state and keyboard coordination the platform does not already provide, and it never supplies your accessible names — those depend on your content.

Follows the Modal Dialog pattern from the ARIA Authoring Practices Guide.

Key	Action
Escape	Close the dialog. Handled by the native <dialog> element, not by Timeless.

Focus trapping, the backdrop, and the top layer all come from showModal(). Timeless moves initial focus into the panel and returns it to the trigger on close. Give the panel an accessible name with aria-labelledby. A dialog invoker gets no implicit aria-expanded from the platform, so Timeless keeps writing it on both the authored-command and click paths.

Verify in context

Automated checks cover axe WCAG 2.2 A and AA rules on every documented route. Keyboard, zoom, forced-colors, and screen-reader review still belong to your application.

Before JavaScript runs

The markup above is complete and usable on its own: native controls submit, labels associate, and authored ARIA is already correct. Registration adds state synchronisation, focus management, and keyboard coordination on top of it.

More examples

Open Dialog in StoryLite for variants, controls, and manual testing.