• Success Criterion 2.4.3
  • Conformance level A

Failed Form Submission Sending Focus to the Wrong Field

2.4.3 — Focus Order

Scenario

Setting

A calendar app's event-creation form

What’s wrong

After a failed form submission, focus jumps to the wrong place — the last error instead of the first, or somewhere unrelated, so keyboard users fix errors out of order or hunt for them.

Example

.field-3 { order: 1; } .field-1 { order: 3; } /* tab order scrambled by CSS */

Why it matters

Keyboard and screen-reader users who follow focus rather than the pointer.

How to test

Submit a form with multiple errors: check where focus lands — it should move to the first error (or an error summary), not the last error or somewhere unrelated.

How to fix

On failed submission, move focus to the first error (or an error summary linking to each field).

<!-- Reorder the actual DOM nodes to match the intended focus sequence -->

Focus order should follow a sequence that preserves meaning, matching how the content is meant to be read.

Outcome

On a calendar app's event-creation form, this barrier is gone for keyboard and screen-reader users who follow focus rather than the pointer — they reach the same outcome without extra effort.

Who is affected

Keyboard and screen-reader users who follow focus rather than the pointer.

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