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2.4.7 or 2.1.1 on "hidden" submenu elements?

for

From: glen walker
Date: May 6, 2020 1:25PM

There was a huge discussion on mega menus from several years ago (
https://webaim.org/discussion/mail_thread?thread=6730), over 30+ comments,
and this topic was somewhat touched on but not really resolved.

If submenu elements are "fake" hidden, meaning you can't see them but
they're still in the tab order (and by "submenu", I'm not necessarily
talking about real "menus" vs navigation menus that are just a list of
links - I don't want to open that can of worms), do you fail that with
2.4.7 because you can't see see a visible focus or do you fail it with
2.1.1?

I often see 2.1.1 noted in this case but that doesn't feel right to me.
2.1.1 talks about elements that should be keyboard operable. In this case,
the submenu items *are* keyboard operable. I just can see them. 2.4.7
feels more appropriate. But playing the devil's advocate, I could see
someone getting snarky and when the hidden element receives focus, they
draw a focus rectangle so that the focus is visible, but you still can't
see the text that has focus (similar to how VoiceOver will focus on a fake
hidden element).

My feeling is that it's a problem that needs to be fixed and whether you
cite it as 2.4.7 or 2.1.1 might not matter as long as the problem gets
resolved.

I was just curious how others treated it.