Level AA · WCAG 2.0
2.4.7 Focus Visible
Any keyboard-operable element shows a visible focus indicator when it has focus.
Partly automated Some failures are detectable, others need judgement.
How it fails in practice
outline: none in a reset stylesheet, never replaced. A custom focus style that only works on buttons, leaving links invisible.
How to fix it
Never remove the outline without putting something at least as visible in its place. :focus-visible gives you the mouse-user experience designers usually want without taking the indicator away from keyboard users.
At a glance
- Level
- Level AA — the level EN 301 549 requires, and therefore the level the BFSG and the EAA are measured against.
- Principle
- Operable
- Guideline
- 2.4 Navigable
- Added in
- WCAG 2.0
- EN 301 549
- 9.2.4.7
- Automated check
- Partly automated
Partly automated
How far an automated check gets
A tool finds some failures here and cannot see the rest. A clean automated result means the checks that exist found nothing — not that the criterion is met. This is the gap that makes a green scan look like an accessible site, and it is where our agents and a human reviewer do the remaining work.
The keyboard agent tabs through each page and captures what is visible at every stop, so a missing indicator shows up as an actual screenshot rather than a rule id.
Related criteria
Other criteria under the same guideline.
Find out which criteria your site fails
We scan up to 100 pages against WCAG 2.2 AA, run the agent protocol on one key journey and send you the report — free, once, no strings.