Re: My concern about ACT rule "Element in sequential focus order has visible focus"

Hey Detlev,

The rule's applicability says:

The rule applies to any element which is part of sequential focus navigation
<https://html.spec.whatwg.org/#sequential-focus-navigation> in an HTML
document <https://html.spec.whatwg.org/#document>.
So not any element, but any element that is focused when you tab through
the page. That's not only user interface components. If you have a region
that's focusable because it has a scrollbar, the rule includes that too.
But it's not just any element as you suggest.



On Tue, Jan 10, 2023 at 6:42 PM Detlev Fischer <detlev.fischer@testkreis.de>
wrote:

> Just that it doesn't get lost (since discussion was cut short in the
> telco):
>
> My concern about the rule "Element in sequential focus order has visible
> focus" (
> https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/act/rules/oj04fd/proposed/ )
>
> ...is that it refers to ANY element taking fokus while the normative text
> of 2.4.7 to which this rule is tied states:
>
> "2.4.7 Focus Visible: Any *keyboard operable user interface* has a mode
> of operation where the keyboard focus indicator is visible."
>
> To me, non interactive elements taking focus due to tabindex="0" should be
> out of scope for the rule since they are not part of the user interface
> (they are not tied to any action).
>
> So giving the SC a strict reading, I think the rule should be scoped to
> just user interface (i.e. interactive) elements, and say nothing about tab
> stops that are not on user interface elements.
> Needless to say that invisible tabstops are to be avoided, but a single
> invisible tab stop where the overall focus visibility is good strikes me as
> a rather minor accessibility issue.
> Whatever take you have on that, it seems it would need another rule to
> cover focus on elements that are not part of the user element (whether they
> should recieive focus at all, and if they do, whether that focus must be
> visible).
>
>
> --
> Detlev Fischer
> DIAS GmbH
> (Testkreis is now part of DIAS GmbH)
>
> Mobil +49 (0)157 57 57 57 45
> http://www.dias.de
> Beratung, Tests und Schulungen für barrierefreie Websites
>
>

-- 
*Wilco Fiers*
Axe-core & Axe-linter product owner - WCAG 3 Project Manager - Facilitator
ACT Task Force