react-modal vs @reach/dialog
React Dialog Libraries Comparison
1 Year
react-modal@reach/dialogSimilar Packages:
What's React Dialog Libraries?

Dialog libraries in React are essential for creating modal windows that can display content, gather user input, or confirm actions without navigating away from the current page. These libraries help manage accessibility, focus management, and provide a consistent user experience across different devices. They encapsulate the complexity of handling modals, allowing developers to focus on building the core functionality of their applications while ensuring that dialogs are user-friendly and compliant with accessibility standards.

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react-modal1,721,5237,397188 kB2002 months agoMIT
@reach/dialog191,3365,98553.3 kB97-MIT
Feature Comparison: react-modal vs @reach/dialog

Accessibility

  • react-modal:

    react-modal also supports accessibility features, but it requires additional configuration to fully comply with WAI-ARIA standards. It provides props to manage accessibility features, but developers need to ensure that they implement them correctly to achieve optimal accessibility.

  • @reach/dialog:

    @reach/dialog is built with accessibility in mind, following WAI-ARIA guidelines to ensure that modals are usable by people with disabilities. It manages focus automatically, trapping focus within the dialog and returning focus to the previously focused element when the dialog is closed, enhancing the overall user experience for assistive technology users.

Customization

  • react-modal:

    react-modal is highly customizable, allowing developers to define styles, animations, and behaviors extensively. This flexibility makes it suitable for applications that require unique modal designs and interactions, but it may introduce complexity in implementation.

  • @reach/dialog:

    @reach/dialog offers a minimalist approach, focusing on providing essential functionality without extensive customization options. This makes it easy to implement but may limit design flexibility for developers looking to create highly customized modal experiences.

Ease of Use

  • react-modal:

    react-modal has a more complex API due to its extensive feature set, which may present a steeper learning curve for new users. However, once understood, it provides powerful tools for creating sophisticated modal dialogs.

  • @reach/dialog:

    @reach/dialog has a simple API that is easy to understand and implement, making it ideal for developers who want a quick and straightforward solution for modals. Its lightweight nature means less overhead and faster integration into projects.

Performance

  • react-modal:

    react-modal may introduce more overhead due to its rich feature set, which can impact performance in applications with many concurrent modals or complex animations. Developers need to be mindful of performance implications when using this library.

  • @reach/dialog:

    @reach/dialog is lightweight and optimized for performance, making it suitable for applications where speed is a priority. Its minimalistic design ensures that it does not introduce significant overhead, allowing for quick rendering of dialogs.

Community and Support

  • react-modal:

    react-modal has a larger user base and community support, with extensive documentation and examples available. This can be beneficial for developers seeking help or resources for implementing modals in their applications.

  • @reach/dialog:

    @reach/dialog is part of the Reach UI library, which has a growing community and is actively maintained. While it may not have as large a user base as react-modal, it benefits from a focus on accessibility and modern React practices.

How to Choose: react-modal vs @reach/dialog
  • react-modal:

    Choose react-modal if you need a more feature-rich solution with extensive customization options. It provides a robust set of props for controlling animations, styles, and behaviors, making it suitable for applications that require more complex modal interactions.

  • @reach/dialog:

    Choose @reach/dialog if you prioritize accessibility and want a lightweight solution that adheres to WAI-ARIA standards. It is designed to be simple and offers a straightforward API for creating accessible dialogs without the overhead of additional features.

README for react-modal

react-modal

Accessible modal dialog component for React.JS

Build Status Coverage Status gzip size Join the chat at https://gitter.im/react-modal/Lobby

Table of Contents

Installation

To install, you can use npm or yarn:

$ npm install --save react-modal
$ yarn add react-modal

To install react-modal in React CDN app:

  • Add this CDN script tag after React CDN scripts and before your JS files (for example from cdnjs):

       <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/react-modal/3.14.3/react-modal.min.js"
       integrity="sha512-MY2jfK3DBnVzdS2V8MXo5lRtr0mNRroUI9hoLVv2/yL3vrJTam3VzASuKQ96fLEpyYIT4a8o7YgtUs5lPjiLVQ=="
       crossorigin="anonymous"
       referrerpolicy="no-referrer"></script>
    
  • Use <ReactModal> tag inside your React CDN app.

API documentation

The primary documentation for react-modal is the reference book, which describes the API and gives examples of its usage.

Examples

Here is a simple example of react-modal being used in an app with some custom styles and focusable input elements within the modal content:

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import Modal from 'react-modal';

const customStyles = {
  content: {
    top: '50%',
    left: '50%',
    right: 'auto',
    bottom: 'auto',
    marginRight: '-50%',
    transform: 'translate(-50%, -50%)',
  },
};

// Make sure to bind modal to your appElement (https://reactcommunity.org/react-modal/accessibility/)
Modal.setAppElement('#yourAppElement');

function App() {
  let subtitle;
  const [modalIsOpen, setIsOpen] = React.useState(false);

  function openModal() {
    setIsOpen(true);
  }

  function afterOpenModal() {
    // references are now sync'd and can be accessed.
    subtitle.style.color = '#f00';
  }

  function closeModal() {
    setIsOpen(false);
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <button onClick={openModal}>Open Modal</button>
      <Modal
        isOpen={modalIsOpen}
        onAfterOpen={afterOpenModal}
        onRequestClose={closeModal}
        style={customStyles}
        contentLabel="Example Modal"
      >
        <h2 ref={(_subtitle) => (subtitle = _subtitle)}>Hello</h2>
        <button onClick={closeModal}>close</button>
        <div>I am a modal</div>
        <form>
          <input />
          <button>tab navigation</button>
          <button>stays</button>
          <button>inside</button>
          <button>the modal</button>
        </form>
      </Modal>
    </div>
  );
}

ReactDOM.render(<App />, appElement);

You can find more examples in the examples directory, which you can run in a local development server using npm start or yarn run start.

Demos

There are several demos hosted on CodePen which demonstrate various features of react-modal: