Facts - University of Wisconsin–Madison

Student Life - University of Wisconsin–Madison

Undergraduate majors and certificates - University of Wisconsin–Madison

Directory Search - University of Wisconsin–Madison

Academics - University of Wisconsin–Madison

Nobel Prize Awardees - University of Wisconsin–Madison

Departments and programs - University of Wisconsin–Madison

GDPR Notice - University of Wisconsin–Madison

About UW–Madison - University of Wisconsin–Madison

Privacy Notice - University of Wisconsin–Madison

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

August 2025

July 2025

University of Wisconsin, Madison

	Title / URL	Issues
	Facts - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/about/facts/	1
	Student Life - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/student-life/	1
	Undergraduate majors and certificates - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/academics/majors/	1
	Directory Search - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/directories/	1
	Academics - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/academics/	1
	Nobel Prize Awardees - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/about/nobel-prize/	1
	Departments and programs - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/	1
	GDPR Notice - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/privacy-notice/gdpr-notice/	1
	About UW–Madison - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/about/	1
	Privacy Notice - University of Wisconsin–Madisonwww.wisc.edu/privacy-notice/	1

Ensure controls change appearance when they are selected

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Where this issue has occurred