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fix(link): keep external-link arrow visible in forced-colors - #234
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abbybowman merged 3 commits intoOct 7, 2026
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The arrow is drawn with mask-image plus background-color. Forced-colors mode drops mask-image painting outright, independent of the background-color value, so the masked arrow disappears no matter what color it's given. Opt the pseudo-element out of forced colors and repaint it manually in CanvasText, matching the .usa-social-link precedent already in the codebase. Default rendering is unchanged. Refs nasa#229 (external-link item only).
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Thanks for the fix @nulluid! I confirmed in native Windows that the externa link arrow still paints in CanvasText without the opt-out, so I pushed a commit removing it, rewording the comment, and dropping the matching test assertion. Credit to @suthat for flagging this in #259. Merging once CI is green, appreciate your help!
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What this PR does
Keeps the external-link diagonal arrow visible in forced-colors mode (Windows High Contrast) by opting the icon out of forced colors and repainting it with the system
CanvasTextcolor.Closes #229 (external-link item only)
Type of change
How to review
Open the Link stories with
forced-colors: activeenabled (DevTools > Rendering, or a Windows contrast theme) and check an external link. The diagonal arrow should stay visible, painted in black (CanvasText) against the Canvas background. Default rendering is unchanged.Before requesting review
npm run lint,npm run format, andnpm testpass locallyIf your change affects how anything renders (styles, tokens, story markup, icons, or fonts):
If your change ships in the package (styles, tokens, or
src/assets/**):npx changeset) at the semver rubric levelnpm run check:api-snapshot; no drift was reportedNotes for reviewers
Root cause: the arrow is painted with
mask-image+background-color. Forced-colors mode drops mask-image painting outright, independent of the color value, so settingbackground-coloralone is not enough (confirmed by rendering in a real browser with forced-colors emulated, not just by reading the compiled CSS). The fix addsforced-color-adjust: nonealongside theCanvasTextbackground, matching the existing.usa-social-linkprecedent in this codebase for the same problem.Regression test compiles the Sass and asserts both
background-color: CanvasTextandforced-color-adjust: noneon.usa-link--external::afterinside the forced-colors media block, following the pattern from #232.