Success Criterion 1.4.13
Conformance level AA

Hover Content That Can’t Be Dismissed Without Moving the Mouse

1.4.13 — Content on Hover or Focus

Scenario

Setting

A bank's mobile money-transfer screen

What’s wrong

Documented but unnumbered by W3C: hover/focus content that cannot be dismissed (e.g., with Esc) without moving the pointer or focus, or that disappears on its own before the user dismisses it.

Example

<span title="More info about this field"></span>

Why it matters

Screen-magnifier users, people with motor tremors, and keyboard-only users of tooltips/menus.

How to test

Trigger the hover/focus content and check: it must be dismissible without moving the pointer or focus (e.g., via Esc), and stay visible until dismissed or no longer valid — either missing condition fails.

How to fix

Hover/focus-triggered content must stay visible until dismissed, be dismissible with Esc without moving pointer/focus, and remain when the pointer moves onto it.

<button aria-describedby="tip-1">ⓘ</button>

<div id="tip-1" role="tooltip">More info about this field</div>

A hover-triggered tooltip must be dismissible, stay put while the pointer moves onto it, and stay visible until dismissed.

Outcome

On a bank's mobile money-transfer screen, this barrier is gone for screen-magnifier users, people with motor tremors — they no longer have to work around this.

Who is affected