How it works#

Before getting started with the modal component, be sure to read the following.

• Modals are built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They're positioned over everything else in the document and remove scroll from the <body> so that modal content scrolls instead.
• Clicking on the modal "backdrop" will automatically close the modal.
• Bootstrap only supports one modal window at a time. Nested modals aren't supported as we believe them to be poor user experiences.
• Modals use position: fixed, which can sometimes be a bit particular about its rendering. Whenever possible, place your modal HTML in a top-level position to avoid potential interference from other elements. You'll likely run into issues when nesting a .modal within another fixed element.
• Due to how HTML5 defines its semantics, the autofocus HTML attribute has no effect in Bootstrap modals. To achieve the same effect, use some custom JavaScript:

const myModal = document.getElementById('myModal')
const myInput = document.getElementById('myInput')

myModal.addEventListener('shown.bs.modal', () => {
  myInput.focus()
})

Don't need the plugin? felt-css styles a native <dialog class="modal"> too, which brings its own backdrop, focus handling and Esc key.

Examples#

Modal components#

Below is a static modal example (meaning its position and display have been overridden). Included are the modal header, modal body (required for padding), and modal footer (optional). We ask that you include modal headers with dismiss actions whenever possible, or provide another explicit dismiss action.

<div class="modal" tabindex="-1">
  <div class="modal-dialog">
    <div class="modal-content">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <h5 class="modal-title">Modal title</h5>
        <button type="button" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-body">
        <p>Modal body text goes here.</p>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Save changes</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Live demo#

Toggle a working modal demo by clicking the button below. It will slide down and fade in from the top of the page.

<!-- Button trigger modal -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-bs-toggle="modal" data-bs-target="#exampleModal">
  Launch demo modal
</button>

<!-- Modal -->
<div class="modal fade" id="exampleModal" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="exampleModalLabel" aria-hidden="true">
  <div class="modal-dialog">
    <div class="modal-content">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <h1 class="modal-title fs-5" id="exampleModalLabel">Modal title</h1>
        <button type="button" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-body">
        ...
      </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Save changes</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Static backdrop#

When backdrop is set to static, the modal will not close when clicking outside of it. Click the button below to try it.

<!-- Button trigger modal -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-bs-toggle="modal" data-bs-target="#staticBackdrop">
  Launch static backdrop modal
</button>

<!-- Modal -->
<div class="modal fade" id="staticBackdrop" data-bs-backdrop="static" data-bs-keyboard="false" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="staticBackdropLabel" aria-hidden="true">
  <div class="modal-dialog">
    <div class="modal-content">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <h1 class="modal-title fs-5" id="staticBackdropLabel">Modal title</h1>
        <button type="button" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-body">
        ...
      </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Understood</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Scrolling long content#

When modals become too long for the user's viewport or device, they scroll independent of the page itself. Try the demo below to see what we mean.

You can also create a scrollable modal that allows scrolling the modal body by adding .modal-dialog-scrollable to .modal-dialog.

<!-- Scrollable modal -->
<div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-scrollable">
  ...
</div>

Vertically centered#

Add .modal-dialog-centered to .modal-dialog to vertically center the modal.

<!-- Vertically centered modal -->
<div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-centered">
  ...
</div>

<!-- Vertically centered scrollable modal -->
<div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-centered modal-dialog-scrollable">
  ...
</div>

Tooltips and popovers#

Tooltips and popovers can be placed within modals as needed. When modals are closed, any tooltips and popovers within are also automatically dismissed.

<div class="modal-body">
  <h2 class="fs-5">Popover in a modal</h2>
  <p>This <button class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-toggle="popover" title="Popover title" data-bs-content="Popover body content is set in this attribute.">button</button> triggers a popover on click.</p>
  <hr>
  <h2 class="fs-5">Tooltips in a modal</h2>
  <p><a href="#" data-bs-toggle="tooltip" title="Tooltip">This link</a> and <a href="#" data-bs-toggle="tooltip" title="Tooltip">that link</a> have tooltips on hover.</p>
</div>

Using the grid#

Utilize the grid system within a modal by nesting .container-fluid within the .modal-body. Then, use the normal grid system classes as you would anywhere else.

<div class="modal-body">
  <div class="container-fluid">
    <div class="row">
      <div class="col-md-4">.col-md-4</div>
      <div class="col-md-4 ms-auto">.col-md-4 .ms-auto</div>
    </div>
    <div class="row">
      <div class="col-md-3 ms-auto">.col-md-3 .ms-auto</div>
      <div class="col-md-2 ms-auto">.col-md-2 .ms-auto</div>
    </div>
    <div class="row">
      <div class="col-md-6 ms-auto">.col-md-6 .ms-auto</div>
    </div>
    <div class="row">
      <div class="col-sm-9">
        Level 1: .col-sm-9
        <div class="row">
          <div class="col-8 col-sm-6">
            Level 2: .col-8 .col-sm-6
          </div>
          <div class="col-4 col-sm-6">
            Level 2: .col-4 .col-sm-6
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Varying modal content#

Have a bunch of buttons that all trigger the same modal with slightly different contents? Use event.relatedTarget and HTML data-bs-* attributes to vary the contents of the modal depending on which button was clicked.

Below is a live demo followed by example HTML and JavaScript.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-bs-toggle="modal" data-bs-target="#exampleModal" data-bs-whatever="@mdo">Open modal for @mdo</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-bs-toggle="modal" data-bs-target="#exampleModal" data-bs-whatever="@fat">Open modal for @fat</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-bs-toggle="modal" data-bs-target="#exampleModal" data-bs-whatever="@getbootstrap">Open modal for @getbootstrap</button>

<div class="modal fade" id="exampleModal" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="exampleModalLabel" aria-hidden="true">
  <div class="modal-dialog">
    <div class="modal-content">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <h1 class="modal-title fs-5" id="exampleModalLabel">New message</h1>
        <button type="button" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-body">
        <form>
          <div class="mb-3">
            <label for="recipient-name" class="col-form-label">Recipient:</label>
            <input type="text" class="form-control" id="recipient-name">
          </div>
          <div class="mb-3">
            <label for="message-text" class="col-form-label">Message:</label>
            <textarea class="form-control" id="message-text"></textarea>
          </div>
        </form>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Send message</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

const exampleModal = document.getElementById('exampleModal')
if (exampleModal) {
  exampleModal.addEventListener('show.bs.modal', event => {
    // Button that triggered the modal
    const button = event.relatedTarget
    // Extract info from data-bs-* attributes
    const recipient = button.getAttribute('data-bs-whatever')
    // Update the modal's content.
    const modalTitle = exampleModal.querySelector('.modal-title')
    const modalBodyInput = exampleModal.querySelector('.modal-body input')

    modalTitle.textContent = `New message to ${recipient}`
    modalBodyInput.value = recipient
  })
}

Toggle between modals#

Toggle between multiple modals with some clever placement of the data-bs-target and data-bs-toggle attributes. For example, you could toggle a password reset modal from within an already open sign in modal. Please note multiple modals cannot be open at the same time—this method simply toggles between two separate modals.

<div class="modal fade" id="exampleModalToggle" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="exampleModalToggleLabel" tabindex="-1">
  <div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-centered">
    <div class="modal-content">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <h1 class="modal-title fs-5" id="exampleModalToggleLabel">Modal 1</h1>
        <button type="button" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-body">
        Show a second modal and hide this one with the button below.
      </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <button class="btn btn-primary" data-bs-target="#exampleModalToggle2" data-bs-toggle="modal">Open second modal</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="modal fade" id="exampleModalToggle2" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="exampleModalToggleLabel2" tabindex="-1">
  <div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-centered">
    <div class="modal-content">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <h1 class="modal-title fs-5" id="exampleModalToggleLabel2">Modal 2</h1>
        <button type="button" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-body">
        Hide this modal and show the first with the button below.
      </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <button class="btn btn-primary" data-bs-target="#exampleModalToggle" data-bs-toggle="modal">Back to first</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
<button class="btn btn-primary" data-bs-target="#exampleModalToggle" data-bs-toggle="modal">Open first modal</button>

Remove animation#

For modals that simply appear rather than fade in to view, remove the .fade class from your modal markup.

<div class="modal" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="..." aria-hidden="true">
  ...
</div>

Dynamic heights#

If the height of a modal changes while it is open, you should call myModal.handleUpdate() to readjust the modal's position in case a scrollbar appears.

Accessibility#

Be sure to add aria-labelledby="...", referencing the modal title, to .modal. Additionally, you may give a description of your modal dialog with aria-describedby on .modal. Note that you don't need to add role="dialog" since Bootstrap's JavaScript already adds it.

Native dialog#

felt-css also styles the browser's own <dialog> element. Give it the .modal class and put the usual .modal-dialog and .modal-content inside: it looks exactly like the plugin's modal, but needs no Bootstrap JavaScript. The browser draws the backdrop (styled through ::backdrop), keeps focus inside, makes the rest of the page inert and closes the dialog on Esc; felt-css stops the page from scrolling behind it.

Any submit button inside a <form method="dialog"> closes the dialog without a line of script, and the button's value ends up in dialog.returnValue. Here the whole .modal-content is that form. Give any other button inside it type="button" so it doesn't close the dialog.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" commandfor="newExpense" command="show-modal">Open dialog</button>

<dialog class="modal" id="newExpense" aria-labelledby="newExpenseLabel" closedby="any">
  <div class="modal-dialog modal-dialog-centered">
    <form method="dialog" class="modal-content">
      <div class="modal-header">
        <h1 class="modal-title fs-5" id="newExpenseLabel">New expense</h1>
        <button class="btn-close" value="cancel" aria-label="Close"></button>
      </div>
      <div class="modal-body">
        ...
      </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <button class="btn btn-secondary" value="cancel">Cancel</button>
        <button class="btn btn-primary" value="save">Save</button>
      </div>
    </form>
  </div>
</dialog>

To open it, commandfor and command="show-modal" on a button do the job declaratively in browsers that support invoker commands; everywhere else it's one line of JavaScript. closedby="any" lets a click on the backdrop close the dialog where supported.

document.getElementById('newExpense').showModal()

Optional sizes#

Modals have three optional sizes, available via modifier classes to be placed on a .modal-dialog. They shrink with narrower viewports to avoid horizontal scrollbars.

Our default modal without modifier class constitutes the "medium" size modal.

<div class="modal-dialog modal-xl">...</div>
<div class="modal-dialog modal-lg">...</div>
<div class="modal-dialog modal-sm">...</div>

Fullscreen Modal#

Another override is the option to pop up a modal that covers the user viewport, available via modifier classes that are placed on a .modal-dialog.

felt-css has no -md-down, -lg-down, -xl-down or -xxl-down variants.

<!-- Full screen modal -->
<div class="modal-dialog modal-fullscreen-sm-down">
  ...
</div>

JavaScript behavior#

felt-css is CSS only; opening, closing, focus handling and the backdrop come from Bootstrap's modal plugin. Activate a modal without writing JavaScript by setting data-bs-toggle="modal" on a controller element, like a button, along with a data-bs-target="#foo" or href="#foo" to target a specific modal. Dismiss it with data-bs-dismiss="modal" on a button inside it.

Options (backdrop, focus, keyboard), methods (show, hide, toggle, handleUpdate, dispose, getInstance, getOrCreateInstance) and events (show.bs.modal, shown.bs.modal, hide.bs.modal, hidden.bs.modal, hidePrevented.bs.modal) work exactly as described in Bootstrap's modal documentation.

const myModal = new bootstrap.Modal('#myModal', {
  keyboard: false
})
myModal.show()