Level A · WCAG 2.0
3.2.1 On Focus
Moving focus to a component does not change the context by itself.
Manual only No automated check says anything useful.
How it fails in practice
A select that submits the form as soon as it receives focus, so a keyboard user can never reach the option below the first.
How to fix it
Act on an explicit choice — a change committed, a button pressed — never on focus arriving.
At a glance
- Level
- Level A — the minimum. Failing one of these usually makes something impossible rather than merely hard.
- Principle
- Understandable
- Guideline
- 3.2 Predictable
- Added in
- WCAG 2.0
- EN 301 549
- 9.3.2.1
- Automated check
- Manual only
Manual only
How far an automated check gets
Nothing automatic decides this. A scanner that reports it as passing is reporting that it did not look. It stays untested until a person tests it and records what they did — which is exactly how we treat it: as untested, not as passed.
Related criteria
Other criteria under the same guideline.
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