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Re: Firefox visual focus indication

for

From: Beranek, Nicholas
Date: Nov 17, 2016 1:37PM

Thank you for your response, Charles. I believe it's good practice to provide highly visible focus indication anyway even though it's sufficient to rely on the browser. In cases where we cannot, in fact, rely on the browser, that's where subjectivity comes into play. It can become a slippery slope when you start compensating for various defects, hence my question about anyone doing something about it.

I think I'll continue to mark this as either a "User Agent" issue or "Best Practice" as my teams are normally following the sufficient technique to rely on the browser. I've got teams that have also created some really good visual focus indication based on the background color. It can definitely be an improvement when done right.

I do have one gripe about SC 2.4.7 Focus Visible: How do you quantify "highly visible" in reference to an outline? Proper contrast at, say, 4.5 to 1? I speak in reference to the sufficient technique listed at the following link: https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/G195

Thank you,

Nick Beranek
Capital One

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Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2016 1:15 PM
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Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Firefox visual focus indication



17.11.2016, 19:02, "Beranek, Nicholas" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >:
> Hi folks,
>
> In Firefox, we are experiencing many issues with visual focus indication. That is, the outline or "focus ring" that is supposed to appear for active elements, in many cases, does not exist or is very difficult to see. This is especially true for radio buttons and checkboxes. For radio buttons, we are unable to determine focus at all. For checkboxes, there is a 1px dotted outline on the right side alone, hardly enough to satisfy for proper visual focus indication. You can test this by tabbing to a radio button or checkbox and check for focus outline.
>
> This is a major problem for the user.

Agreed

> It is also a problem when testing. We could argue that a digital property is in direct violation of SC 2.4.7 Focus Visible by not providing visual focus indication in Firefox. In my mind, it violates 1.3.1 of UAAG 2.0 because Firefox is not providing "Active keyboard focus" on radio buttons and checkboxes.

Agreed that it fails to meet the UAAG requirement effectively. A potential remediation the author can provide is to add a style :focus - and :hover

See also https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/C15

> So, my questions are the following:
>
> * Are the folks at Mozilla doing anything to fix this bug?

It's assigned and tested: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id‘3103 But it seems to have sat around for a while since then. If anyone has a login for Mozilla's bugzilla, it might help to close the multiple duplicates that are visible from https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=radio+button+focus as a reminder that this continually gets reported.

cheers

> * Of the bug reports that exist, are we doing anything to ensure
> Mozilla's engineers fix the focus indication bug? (Link to "radio
> button focus" search on bugzilla:
> https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=radio+button+focu
> s)
>
> * Have you done anything within your own CSS to compensate for this?
>
> * Could this have something to do with Firefox taking to color property's value as the color for the focus outline?
>
> Thank you so much for your time,
>
> Nick Beranek
> Capital One

--
Charles McCathie Nevile - web standards - CTO Office, Yandex <EMAIL REMOVED> - - - Find more at http://yandex.com The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and/or proprietary to Capital One and/or its affiliates and may only be used solely in performance of work or services for Capital One. The information transmitted herewith is intended only for use by the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, copying or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from your computer.