Do overlay elements have to be positioned at the bottom of the HTML body every time?

As I delve into the world of JavaScript frameworks, one common trend I've noticed is that elements like dialogs, tooltips, and alerts usually appear at the end of the body tag.

With my own implementation of these UI elements, I am determined to make it foolproof. I find myself utilizing techniques such as using a transparent iframe to overlay embedded objects in older browsers in order to ensure smooth functionality.

However, I can't help but wonder about the potential restrictions I might encounter if I choose to place my dialog/tooltip deep within the DOM tree with a fixed position. Could there be unseen dangers to this approach, especially considering that major frameworks tend to avoid it?

Despite any challenges, my goal is to provide support for IE8 and beyond.

javascripthtmlcsscss-positionoverlay

Answer №1

Another important factor to consider in JS frameworks, besides z-ordering as noted by Teemu, is the speed of execution and lookup.

In JavaScript terms, the DOM is essentially one large object. As the script digs deeper into this object to retrieve information, its performance starts to decrease, you can read more about this here.

For optimal performance, it's recommended to keep elements that will likely be cloned or deeply copied at a reasonable nesting level with the correct z-order. Typically, this means placing them towards the end of the body and wrapped by at most one containing element.

While there may be other factors to consider, the depth/nesting of elements stands out as an important consideration to keep in mind.

Answer №2

In most cases, techniques like this are not always necessary as JavaScript can easily manipulate the DOM to move items around as needed.

Instead of approaching this problem solely from a JavaScript standpoint, it is important to consider where the content naturally belongs within the hierarchy of the DOM.

For instance, when dealing with a modal dialog, the chrome elements typically do not belong within the main structure of the DOM. They are there to provide functionality for the content and should be appended at the bottom of the main content if they cannot be loaded separately or embedded in the JavaScript code. It's worth noting that the TEMPLATE element is designed for situations like this.

On the other hand, the actual content of the dialog may belong within the main content of the DOM, either as an element itself or as an attribute associated with another element, such as a tooltip text.

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