RE: Focus onto control that only appears on focus?

I think this is pretty common for skip links and paragraph permalinks a lot of sites use. I don’t know that it’s even bad UX, but for accessibility it is definitely *good*, even when it can be a little unexpected. Always-visible links that only help keyboard users would arguably be worse UX.

From: Michael Livesey <mike.j.livesey@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2024 01:39
To: WAI Interest Group discussion list <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: Focus onto control that only appears on focus?

Hi all,

I have a question about focusing onto a control that is opacity: 0 when not focused.

So you hit "Tab" and you are taken to a control that has opacity: 1 set on its :focus pseudo selector, thus it was invisible and it only appears on focus.

When focused, the control will have a focus ring.

I know this isn't ideal UX, but is this disallowed under any criteria please?

Thank you