Väitökset | LUT-yliopisto

Teemat ja ilmiöt | LUT-yliopisto

Projektit | LUT-yliopisto

Uteliaiden yliopisto | LUT-yliopisto

Hae tutkimusta | LUT-yliopisto

Tutkimusalustat | LUT-yliopisto

Tutkijat ja asiantuntijat | LUT-yliopisto

Hankintojen johtaminen | LUT-yliopisto

Ajankohtaista | LUT-yliopisto

Teräsrakenteet | LUT-yliopisto

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

June 2025

May 2025

LUT University

	Title / URL	Issues
	Väitökset \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi/ajankohtaista/vaitokset	66
	Teemat ja ilmiöt \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi/tutkimus/teemat-ja-ilmiot	66
	Projektit \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi/tutkimus/hae-tutkimusta/projektit	66
	Uteliaiden yliopisto \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi	66
	Hae tutkimusta \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi/tutkimus/hae-tutkimusta	66
	Tutkimusalustat \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi/tutkimus/hae-tutkimusta/tutkimusalustat	66
	Tutkijat ja asiantuntijat \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi/tutkimus/hae-tutkimusta/henkilot	66
	Hankintojen johtaminen \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi/tutkimusryhmat/hankintojen-johtaminen	66
	Ajankohtaista \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi/ajankohtaista	66
	Teräsrakenteet \| LUT-yliopistowww.lut.fi/fi/tutkimusryhmat/terasrakenteet	66

Ensure controls change appearance when they are selected

LUT University

Where this issue has occurred