HTML and XHTML
This failure relates to:
This document describes a failure that occurs when the tab order does not follow logical relationships and sequences in the content.
Focusable elements like links and form elements have a tabindex
attribute. The elements receive focus in ascending order of the value of the
tabindex
attribute. When the values of the
tabindex
attribute are assigned in a different order than the
relationships and sequences in the content, the tab order no longer follows
the relationships and sequences in the content.
One of the most common causes of this failure occurs when editing a page
where tabindex
has been used. It is easy for the tab order and
the content order to fall out of correspondence when the content is edited
but the tabindex
attributes are not updated to reflect the
changes to the content.
The following example incorrectly uses tabindex to specify an alternative tab order:
Example Code:
<ol>
<li><a href="main.html" tabindex="1">Homepage</a></li>
<li><a href="chapter1.html" tabindex="4">Chapter 1</a></li>
<li><a href="chapter2.html" tabindex="3">Chapter 2</a></li>
<li><a href="chapter3.html" tabindex="2">Chapter 3</a></li>
</ol>
If this list is navigated by the tab key, the list is navigated in the order Homepage, chapter 3, chapter 2, chapter 1, which does not follow the sequence in the content.
The tab order has been set explicitly in a Web page by providing
tabindex
attributes for all fields. Later, the page
is modified to add a new field in the middle of the page, but the
author forgets to add a tabindex
attribute to the new
field. As a result, the new field is at the end of the tab
order.
Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.
HTML 4.01 Tabbing navigation
If tabindex
is used, check that the tab order
specified by the tabindex
attributes follows
relationships in the content.
If check #1 is false, then this failure condition applies and content fails the Success Criterion.
Techniques are informative—that means they are not required. The basis for determining conformance to WCAG 2.0 is the success criteria from the WCAG 2.0 standard—not the techniques. For important information about techniques, please see the Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria section of Understanding WCAG 2.0.