So I was building this app and needed a flyout menu for settings. Thought it’d be simple until everything went sideways. Started by slapping together some HTML buttons that triggered CSS transitions. Looked okay until I tapped outside the menu and it just stayed there like a stubborn stain.
First Try Disaster
Tried fixing the closing issue with JavaScript event listeners. Added this ugly hack where clicking anywhere would hide the menu. Big mistake. Suddenly my dropdowns started closing when people tried scrolling on mobile! Got flooded with user complaints about “broken menus”. Felt like such an idiot.
Research Mode Activated
Dove into framework docs and found proper focus management patterns. Realized two critical things:
- Focus trapping matters – that flyout needs to keep focus inside until dismissed
- Escape key handling isn’t optional – power users will riot without it
Rewrote everything using aria-expanded states. Added keyboard listeners that:
- Close on ESC key
- Cycle focus with tab key
- Return focus to trigger button after close
Mobile Nightmares
Tested on Android and the touch events were still broken. Virtual keyboards made the flyout resize weirdly. Had to:
- Add touch event fallbacks
- Set max-height with overflow auto
- Position absolutely above keyboards
Wasted three hours just debugging iOS Safari quirks. That browser hates developers.
Live Testing Drama
Put it in production thinking we’d nailed it. Then Dave from QA sent a video showing the menu appearing behind our data charts! Forgot about z-index stacking contexts. Solved it by:
- Moving flyouts to top-level DOM elements
- Creating z-index layers in CSS variables
- Adding will-change: transform for GPU rendering
Now it actually pops over everything like it’s supposed to.
Final Lessons
After all this pain, here’s what actually matters:
- ALWAYS test keyboard/screen reader navigation first
- Mobile isn’t optional – test touch before writing any code
- z-index will betray you if you don’t plan layers
Flyouts look simple but are deceptively tricky. Skipping accessibility or edge cases always bites you later.
