MI5 joins Instagram | MI5 - The Security Service

Latest News and Speeches | MI5 - The Security Service

National Protective Security Authority | MI5 - The Security Service

MI5 early years | MI5 - The Security Service

HRH The Princess Royal visits MI5 | MI5 - The Security Service

Privacy | MI5 - The Security Service

The 'Wilson Plot' | MI5 - The Security Service

The Olympics and beyond | MI5 - The Security Service

Mull of Kintyre 30th anniversary | MI5 - The Security Service

The later Cold War. | MI5 - The Security Service

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

November 2025

October 2025

MI5 (home office)

	Title / URL	Issues
	MI5 joins Instagram \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/mi5-joins-instagram	100
	Latest News and Speeches \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/news	100
	National Protective Security Authority \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/about-us/national-protective-security-authority	100
	MI5 early years \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/history/mi5s-early-years	100
	HRH The Princess Royal visits MI5 \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/hrh-the-princess-royal-visits-mi5	100
	Privacy \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/privacy-notice	100
	The 'Wilson Plot' \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/history/the-cold-war/the-wilson-plot	100
	The Olympics and beyond \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/news/the-olympics-and-beyond	100
	Mull of Kintyre 30th anniversary \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/mull-of-kintyre-30th-anniversary	100
	The later Cold War. \| MI5 - The Security Servicewww.mi5.gov.uk/history/the-cold-war/the-later-cold-war	100

Ensure controls change appearance when they are selected

MI5 (home office)

Where this issue has occurred