Re: [EXTERNAL] Seeking Guidance: Custom "Next Error" Focus Navigation After Form Submission

Hi Grigory,

This feature could make it quicker to address the errors, particularly if there are few errors in a very long form. I don't think the "error table of contents" that you describe would make this unnecessary because it doesn't do the same thing - enable the user to jump through the error fields as efficiently as possible. They'd keep having to return to this table of contents.


The toggle sounds a little problematic from a UX perspective though because it may be difficult to come up with a good label that makes it clear what it does. The suggested "Enable error-only navigation" may sound clear to someone who already knows what it's there for, but to a user who hasn't encountered it before I think it may be difficult to understand. You always have to be careful when using words like "navigation" which are really UX developer jargon. Do users ever think they are "navigating"?

Another issue with this toggle is that to a mouse user it would appear to do nothing at all so that could be doubly confusing.

I can think of two alternatives to consider, but both raise other potential issues:

1. Reload the page but with the form containing only the fields that have an error. The page then becomes a 'provide the missing details' page which is conceptually different from the original form. A problem with this may be that if what the user wants to enter into a field depends on what they put into a previous field, they can no longer see that.

2. Disable all the fields that were filled correctly. This gives the same form, but the user can't make changes to anything they've already submitted. But if having to complete the error fields makes the user reconsider their previous answers, they wouldn't be able to change them.

These scenarios may seem far fetched but they are exactly the kinds of things that get revealed in user testing. Generally, I tend to avoid trying to be clever in adding helpful features, particularly ones that automatically adapt the UI according to the user's actions, because you're playing a prediction game that you can often get wrong and any changes to "what usually happens" can often causes great confusion. I've seen this in all user testing, not just testing with AT users.

If it were me, I'd leave it as it is and accept that if a user makes errors they will have to go through the entire form to correct them, or use your table of contents thing which probably would help some.

Mark


________________________________
From: Grisha Rogov <grogov@binaere-bauten.de>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2026 13:19
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Seeking Guidance: Custom "Next Error" Focus Navigation After Form Submission

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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