WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Tab controls and WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow

for

From: Abi James
Date: Mar 31, 2022 3:29PM

One of the downsides of making the tab panel focusable is that when focusable elements in that tab have focus then the focus indicator on the panel is also shown (at least of chrome). This can be confusing and distracting for users, particularly it can appear like the panel focus indicator is coming on briefly when buttons are pressed.

The approach we reached was to only make the tab panel focusable when it didn't contain focusable elements. If the tab contains a form (or other interactive element) then, as the tab panel is labelled by its heading, the region was announced when a screen reader users tabbed directly to to the interactive element in the tab panel. We also consider surpassing the focus indicator on the tab panel which would have been simpler to maintain but felt like too much of a compromise. There was no perfect approach.

Abi James

On 31 Mar 2022, at 13:33, Geethavani.Shamanna < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

CAUTION: This e-mail originated outside the University of Southampton.

Thank you Birkir, this is really useful. I have so much to learn...

Geetha