Re: Removal of underline as a focus mechanism

On 24/04/2025 14:44, Ms J wrote:
> Hello
> 
> Would the removal of an underlined be considered a focus mechanism? 
> 1.4.11 non text contrast specifies that in combination with 2.4.7 focus 
> visible, the focus mechanism must have sufficient contrast against the 
> adjacent background. Well the removal of an underline achieves precisely 
> the opposite... you could argue it's a non-focused mechanism, and 
> therefore, the removal of it indicates focus.

Once the underline is gone, can links still be distinguished from 
surrounding text? Otherwise, while yes this removal of underline is a 
(very odd choice, but still) way to "show focus", if the link then 
becomes difficult to distinguish from static text, that's still a 
problem (of a different kind).

> Likewise surely this is the same as say a black button border which is 
> rounded off on focus - so the sharp corners are just smoothed down which 
> again is the removal of stuff to create a shape change - can be very 
> hard to detect. But I wouldn't have thought it came directly under 
> focus-visible/non-text contrast?

Focus visible doesn't say *how* visible focus indication needs to be. In 
theory, a single pixel changing can be argued (by lawyers, or lazy 
designers) to count as "visible".

P
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Patrick H. Lauke

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Received on Thursday, 24 April 2025 13:53:50 UTC