Smart Construction - Heriot-Watt University

Our profile - Heriot-Watt University

Dubai - School of Textiles and Design

Heriot-Watt Dubai University | A British University Campus

Visit - Heriot-Watt University Dubai

Our campuses - School of Textiles and Design

Research bites - Heriot-Watt University

Contact us - Heriot-Watt University Malaysia

Heriot-Watt Orkney

Maps and directions Edinburgh Campus | Heriot-Watt

All controls on the page - including links, buttons, and fields - should show when 
they have been selected by the keyboard.

You can confirm this yourself by loading a webpage and using the Tab key to navigate 
through it. Anything you can select should alter its appearance when selected. 
For example, a text field might change color, or have a distinctive border applied. 

This is default behavior for all standard web controls, and so if this issue is appearing
it is because this default behavior has been disabled. Or alternatively, if you have written
your own custom controls, these will need styling to support focus states.

## How to fix

Links and form controls typically define an `outline` CSS style, which ensures
they are highlighted automatically, for example:

```css
input:focus (outline: 2px solid red);
``` 

If you choose to override or disable the default `outline`, you should specify an accessible 
alternative, such as a border or background color.

### Elements appear to change in the browser

Focus states should be defined in CSS alone, and not require JavaScript to work.

Try disabling JavaScript on the page, and see if focus is still visible. If it not,
then the focus state won't work with assistive technologies that don't have a physical
keyboard, e.g. mobile phones.

Some more unusual means of implementing a focus state cannot be detected or measured
automatically. These include:

* Focus implemented via pseudo-elements - such as `::after` or `::before`.
* Focus using `:focus-within` (JavaScript current provides no way to access these).
* Focus cascaded to child elements, e.g. a `<span>` inside an `<a>` tag. We detect
  some of these cases, but there are variations that we cannot detect.

Currently, there is no practical way to assess these focus states automatically.

### Unexpected elements are focusable

You may be surprised to see tags like `<div>` or `<span>` being shown as focusable.
If an element has a `tabindex` of 0 or higher, it becomes focusable. Any HTML tag can be made 
focusable in this way, this is so that custom controls (e.g. your own drop-down menus, or 
sliders) can support keyboard navigation. [Learn more about tabindex on MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes/tabindex).

## Further reading

* [WCAG 2.4.7](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/focus-visible.html)

ensure-focus-is-visible

January 2026

December 2025

Heriot-Watt University

Title / URL	Issues
Smart Construction - Heriot-Watt Universitywww.hw.ac.uk/uk/research/smart-construction.htm	5
Our profile - Heriot-Watt Universitywww.hw.ac.uk/uk/about/profile.htm	3
Dubai - School of Textiles and Designwww.hw.ac.uk/tex/study/campus/dubai.htm	2
Heriot-Watt Dubai University \| A British University Campuswww.hw.ac.uk/dubai/	2
Visit - Heriot-Watt University Dubaiwww.hw.ac.uk/dubai/visit-us.htm	2
Our campuses - School of Textiles and Designwww.hw.ac.uk/tex/study/our-campuses.htm	2
Research bites - Heriot-Watt Universitywww.hw.ac.uk/uk/research/research-bites.htm	1
Contact us - Heriot-Watt University Malaysiawww.hw.ac.uk/malaysia/about/contact-us.htm	1
Heriot-Watt Orkneywww.hw.ac.uk/uk/orkney.htm	1
Maps and directions Edinburgh Campus \| Heriot-Wattwww.hw.ac.uk/uk/edinburgh/maps-directions.htm	1

Ensure controls change appearance when they are selected

Heriot-Watt University

Where this issue has occurred