Focus Order
Tier 1 · The normative floor
Baseline compliance
What the normative text of WCAG 2.2 requires, and nothing more. Only a failure of this tier is a WCAG failure.
The bare minimum
If a page can be navigated sequentially and the order affects meaning or operation, focusable components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability.
Normative text
Verbatim from WCAG 2.2, W3C Recommendation 12 December 2024. Underlined terms are defined below.
If a web page can be navigated sequentially and the navigation sequences affect meaning or operation, focusable components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability.
Not required by the normative text
Common claims that this criterion does not support. Don't log these as WCAG failures.
- Focus order that exactly matches the visual layout. Only meaning and operability must be preserved.
- Never using a positive tabindex. It isn't banned, though it often breaks the order.
Definitions used (2)
Glossary definitions are normative. Their notes are informative.
- web page
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a non-embedded resource obtained from a single URI using HTTP plus any other resources that are used in the rendering or intended to be rendered together with it by a user agent
Informative notes (2)
Although any "other resources" would be rendered together with the primary resource, they would not necessarily be rendered simultaneously with each other.
For the purposes of conformance with these guidelines, a resource must be "non-embedded" within the scope of conformance to be considered a web page.
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navigated in the order defined for advancing focus (from one element to the next) using a keyboard interface
Tier 2 · The gap
Usability & user impact
Where content can meet this criterion and still make things harder for people with disabilities. These are not failures of SC 2.4.3, so raise them as usability defects. Known failures, including failures of related criteria, are listed in Tier 1.
An order that preserves meaning can still jump around the screen, which disorients sighted keyboard and magnifier users.
Tier 3 · The golden path
Recommended best practice
The pattern that meets the floor, closes the gap, and avoids audit disputes. A recommendation, not a requirement.
Keep source order the same as visual order, avoid positive tabindex, and manage focus when dialogs open and close.
W3C's Understanding document and techniques for SC 2.4.3 ↗ are informative: sufficient techniques show ways to pass, and documented failures show common ways to fail, but neither changes what the criterion requires.
How SC 2.4.3 maps to the WCAG 3 draft
From this site's reviewed map to the WCAG 3 editor's draft. It's an interpretation: W3C has not published a mapping.
Successor provisions
From WCAG 2.2, section 5.1: “The main content of WCAG 2.2 is normative and defines requirements that impact conformance claims. Introductory material, appendices, sections marked as "non-normative", diagrams, examples, and notes are informative (non-normative). Non-normative material provides advisory information to help interpret the guidelines but does not create requirements that impact a conformance claim.”