Ensuring digital accessibility is crucial in today’s web development landscape. One of the most overlooked aspects of accessibility is the keyboard focus indicator—a visual cue that allows users navigating via keyboard to identify their current position on a web page. Without proper focus indicators, users with mobility impairments or those relying on screen readers can struggle to interact with websites. Designers and developers have recognized this challenge and begun to leverage tools such as Tota11y, a plugin designed to visualize accessibility issues in web interfaces, to make marked improvements. This article explores how teams have used Tota11y to detect and correct focus indicator problems, achieving better compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
TLDR
Designers have addressed the persistent problem of missing or poorly styled keyboard focus indicators using the open-source tool Tota11y. This tool helps visually identify focus issues, allowing teams to bring their interfaces into alignment with WCAG 2.1 criteria. Key fixes include enhancing color contrast of focus states, implementing consistent outlines, and testing for keyboard-only navigation compatibility. These improvements contribute significantly to digital inclusiveness and legal accessibility compliance.
Understanding Focus Indicators and Their Importance
Focus indicators are visual signals—like outlines or underlines—that show which element on a webpage is currently selected or “in focus.” These are especially important for:
- Keyboard-only users navigating with a Tab key.
- Users with vision impairments who track navigation visually.
- Assistive technologies relying on expected tab order and visual feedback.
The WCAG 2.1 standard includes guidelines that require usable and visible focus indicators (see Success Criterion 2.4.7: Focus Visible). Violations of this guideline not only affect usability but also expose organizations to legal risks and reputational damage.
Common Issues Designers Faced with Focus Indicators
Before adopting diagnostic tools like Tota11y, many designers encountered recurring problems regarding focus indicators:
- No visible focus state: Developers would often remove default outlines using
outline: nonewithout replacing them with a suitable alternative. - Low contrast outlines: Focus outlines would fail to meet the minimum contrast ratio against their backgrounds (at least 3:1 per WCAG guidelines).
- Inconsistent styling: Designers used varying indicators for different elements, leading to user confusion.
- Non-keyboard focusable elements: Some interactive elements weren’t accessible through keyboard navigation at all.
These problems made websites nearly impossible to navigate for users who depend wholly on a keyboard or assistive technology—an issue compounded by the reality that over 15% of people worldwide live with some form of disability.
The Role of Tota11y in Identifying Accessibility Gaps
Tota11y, created by Khan Academy and open-sourced for broader adoption, is a bookmarklet-style tool that overlays visual reports on a live webpage. When installed, it provides annotations highlighting:
- Missing alt text
- Poor heading hierarchy
- Color contrast issues
- Interactive element accessibility
- Focus order and visibility
Its “Focus Order” plugin is particularly instrumental in resolving focus indicator challenges. It visually maps out the expected navigation flow and identifies infractions where focus indicators are missing or misaligned.
How Designers Used Tota11y to Rectify Focus Issues
Once designers started integrating Tota11y into their development workflow, they could immediately audit how users navigated through their interfaces. Teams began to tackle accessibility issues through targeted improvements:
1. Restoring Focus Styles
Designers re-introduced focus outlines where they were previously removed. Some teams opted for customized styling—for example, using a 2px blue border with a high contrast ratio—rather than relying on default browser styles.
2. Enhancing Visual Contrast
Using Tota11y's contrast checking utility alongside browser DevTools, developers adjusted the color schemes of focused elements to meet the minimum contrast threshold of 3:1. This ensured the focused state was perceptible on various devices and screen settings.
3. Streamlining Focus Consistency
With the visual output from Tota11y, designers created a universal focus style guide in their design systems. This involved:
- Applying consistent styles across buttons, links, form inputs, and custom widgets.
- Ensuring visible indicators endured through active states and transitions.
4. Testing Keyboard-Only Navigation
By simulating navigation with just the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, teams verified that a user could traverse all important navigation points without a mouse. Tota11y flagged any skipped elements or unexpected focus shifts.
Successes and Results Based on WCAG 2.1 Compliance
Using Tota11y not only helped address visual focus problems but also aided teams in meeting several WCAG 2.1 success criteria, such as:
- 2.1.1 Keyboard: All functionality is operable through a keyboard interface.
- 2.4.3 Focus Order: Navigation order aligns with expected user workflows.
- 2.4.7 Focus Visible: The focus indicator is visible and discernible.
Post-correction audits using automated tools such as Axe and Lighthouse showed measurable improvements in accessibility scores. Several teams also reported a reduction in user complaints regarding navigation and usability.
Development Best Practices for Maintaining Focus Indicators
To build upon the success they've had fixing focus issues, progressive teams embraced a number of best practices:
- Include focus styling tokens in design systems and component libraries.
- Always provide custom focus indicators if default ones are removed.
- Use semantic HTML elements for better native accessibility support.
- Regularly audit with Tota11y during QA and regression testing.
- Educate developers on how visual design intersects with accessibility requirements.
Conclusion
Maintaining accessible focus indicators is not optional—it is a fundamental part of inclusive design. Through effective use of tools such as Tota11y, designers have been able to uncover hidden problems in their navigation flow and make strategic changes that uphold both usability and compliance with WCAG 2.1. These corrections not only benefit users with disabilities but enhance the usability of websites for everyone. As awareness of digital accessibility continues to grow, tools like Tota11y empower design teams to keep inclusiveness at the forefront of web development.