Seeking Guidance: Custom "Next Error" Focus Navigation After Form Submission

Hello,
During recent testing, a blind participant raised a compelling navigation request for multi-error forms, and I'd value your insights on feasibility, precedents, and WCAG compliance.
User Context:
After form submission, focus lands on an error summary <ul> listing all issues (e.g., "1. Name required", "2. Email invalid"). Users Enter a link to jump to the field, hear the inline error, fix it, then blur/tab.  
The tester requested an optional toggle ("Enable error-only navigation") so that post-fix, instead of tabbing to the next element in DOM, JS auto-focuses the next invalid field ahead in form order.
Example Flow:  
1. Summary focus: "2 errors found."  
2. Enter on "Name" link → name field focus + "Name required."  
3. User fixes → blur → auto-focus email field
4. Repeat or submit.
To my understanding navigating between sections and form fields with shortcuts should be enough for a screen reader user to fix all the inline errors in a form.

- How useful would this be for screen reader users working through multi-error forms?  
- Does the programmatic focus shift from fixed field → next error violate WCAG 2.4.3 Focus Order?  
- Are there existing examples of this pattern in production forms?
 
Would love to hear your opinion on that. Thanks for helping!
 
Best regards,  
Grigory Rogov 

Received on Tuesday, 24 February 2026 17:03:13 UTC