• Success Criterion 2.1.1
  • Conformance level A

Tooltip Trigger That Can’t Be Reached by Keyboard Focus

2.1.1 — Keyboard

Scenario

Setting

A video-conferencing app's meeting controls

What’s wrong

Information available only via mouse-hover tooltip whose trigger is not focusable — no keyboard path to the content at all.

Example

Picture a video-conferencing app's meeting controls: information available only via mouse-hover tooltip whose trigger is not focusable — no keyboard path to the content at all.

Why it matters

Blind users, people with motor disabilities, and anyone operating the interface without a pointer. In this case (a video-conferencing app's meeting controls), they get stuck and can't reach the control.

How to test

Tab to a tooltip's trigger element: if it's not focusable (only mouse-hoverable), keyboard users never see the tooltip content.

How to fix

Make the tooltip trigger focusable and show the content on focus as well as hover.

Outcome

Once corrected, a video-conferencing app's meeting controls lets them keep track of where they are on the page.

Who is affected

Blind users, people with motor disabilities, and anyone operating the interface without a pointer.

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