Problem/Motivation
Spin off from #3604037: [PP-1] Indicate that grouping elements have child element errors for UX and a11y.
Child elements in the forms sidebar are invisible to the user when the sidebar is closed. It's the same fundamental problem as with the related grouping element issues.
To improve the user experience and accessibility we should indicate when there are errors 'inside' the closed sidebar. Currently it is hard for the user to find the actual problematic field when the (child) field itself is invisible.
I'm assuming this is Major for the same reasons that the issues for standard grouping elements are.
Steps to reproduce
- Standard installation
- Log in as admin
- Set Default Admin as the admin theme.
- Install the article test recipe (
drush recipe core/tests/fixtures/recipes/article_content_type),
or create an Article content type & install the Path module (akapath_alias). - Go to
/node/add/article. - Reduce viewport width until the sidebar on the right containing the "advanced" fields collapses.
- Enter a value in the
Titlefield to limit errors. - Click the toggle button to expand the right sidebar.
- Enter a value without a beginning slash in the
URL aliasfield. - Close the sidebar.
Clear / reset caches (drush cr). This is a temporary measure.
Tested on the MR tugboat preview as of 2026-09-07, and clearing the cache was not necessary.- Click the
Savebutton.
This should cause a validation error: "The alias path has to start with a slash".
Expected
The closed sidebar indicates that there is an invalid field within it, for the same reasons that details and vertical tabs elements indicate that there are child errors for #3604037: [PP-1] Indicate that grouping elements have child element errors for UX and a11y.
See the Proposed resolution for details.
Actual
There's no indication that the closed sidebar contains an invalid field.
Proposed resolution
Add a visual indicator to the toggle control.
- Place the prohibition icon from the top error block at the logical inline start of the toggle button, previous to the sidebar icon.
This means on the left for LTR and on the right for RTL. - In the toggle control's default state, the sidebar icon is red.
- Use the input error color from invalid fields for the sidebar icon and the prohibition icon (
var(--input--error-color)). - Append visually hidden " (sidebar contains error)" to the text content of the toggle control. This is mostly consistent with the hidden text in #3604037: [PP-1] Indicate that grouping elements have child element errors for UX and a11y and #2848507: Indicate that grouping elements have child element errors for ux and a11y.
- Include both icons in the clickable area of the button.
Screenshot of proposed error states:

Does it also need hidden text like #3604037: [PP-1] Indicate that grouping elements have child element errors for UX and a11y?. IIUC [KentR], UX team said yes in the 2026-08-28 Usability Meeting.
Remaining tasks
Add a visual indicator to the toggle control.Create merge request.Add test.Refactor code to bust the render cache for the toggle button when there are validation errors in the advanced sidebar.Update test.- Usability / UX review.
- Make the element uncacheable, possibly with a lazy builder as @berdir suggested in Slack (?)
- Take screenshots for the User interface changes section of the issue summary, performing any manual testing that's not covered by the UX review.
- Create change record (?)
User interface changes
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Introduced terminology
API changes
Data model changes
Release notes snippet
| Comment | File | Size | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| #17 | 3619387-17-proposed-resolution-all-states.png | 23.16 KB | kentr |
| #11 | issue-3619387-review.zip | 60.59 KB | mgifford |
Issue fork drupal-3619387
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Comments
Comment #2
kentr commentedComment #3
kentr commentedComment #4
kentr commentedIt's actually not postponed on #2848507: Indicate that grouping elements have child element errors for ux and a11y.
Here's a screenshot of the toggle control from the issue fork. IMO it needs a non-color visual cue also.
Comment #5
kentr commentedComment #6
kentr commentedAdded the error icon to the toggle control and screenshot of the control in different states.
Needs a test.
Comment #7
kentr commentedComment #8
kentr commentedComment #9
kentr commentedComment #10
kentr commentedComment #11
mgiffordI started this and got interrupted too many times.
I think it is close to working now though. I think that the name of the show/hide button needs to stay the same (and indicate open or closed). I'm too tired to think about that now.
From AI...
Bundle is ready: /Users/mgifford/drupal-core/issue-3619387-review.zip (61 KB, 30 files).
What's inside:
One caveat carried over from before: the live Guidepup/VoiceOver run can't execute inside this Linux container — the harness + expected analysis are ready, and you run node guidepup/sidebar-modal.voiceover.mjs on your macOS host (with VoiceOver automation enabled), twice (before/after), then diff the logs.
The working tree is unchanged (the temp baseline branch I used for the interdiff was deleted). Nothing is committed.
Comment #12
kentr commentedThe UX team looked at this in the last meeting: #3618410: Drupal Usability Meeting 2026-08-28. Looks like the recording and transcript aren't up yet, but I listened in.
What I remember as far as their suggestions:
IIRC they didn't have a specific suggestion for the text content, but they said it's a little weird with the changing verb in the accessible name.
Removing the verb is currently part of #3619154: Accessibility fixes for Admin theme's toggle control.
IMO, the error text should be somewhat consistent with the text added by #2848507: Indicate that grouping elements have child element errors for ux and a11y.
I'm working on implementing those suggestions.
Comment #13
kentr commentedPicking this back up.
Comment #14
kentr commentedComment #16
kentr commentedComment #17
kentr commentedComment #18
kentr commentedComment #19
kentr commentedComment #20
kentr commentedComment #21
kentr commentedComment #22
kentr commentedComment #23
kentr commentedComment #24
kentr commentedWhen @mgifford and I talked about it last, we thought this is a blocker for #2915899: [PP-1] Enable the Inline Form Errors module in the Standard profile and recipe for the same reasons that #2848507: Indicate that grouping elements have child element errors for ux and a11y is.