• Success Criterion 3.2.1
  • Conformance level A

Autofocus Chain That Jumps Focus From One Field to Another

3.2.1 — On Focus

Scenario

Setting

A hospital's patient portal appointment scheduler

What’s wrong

Autofocus chains: focusing field A programmatically jumping focus to field B.

Example 

<input id="appt-month" maxlength="2" onfocus="highlightStep(1)"
  oninput="document.getElementById('appt-day').focus()">
<input id="appt-day" maxlength="2">

Why it matters

As soon as the patient finishes typing the month, focus is yanked to the day field, so anyone reviewing or correcting the month with a screen reader loses their place mid-entry.

How to test

Tab to field A and stop: if focus programmatically jumps to field B without any user action, it fails.

How to fix

Prefer a single native date input, or if using segmented fields, let the browser's normal tab order move focus rather than scripting jumps on input.

<input id="appt-month" maxlength="2">
<input id="appt-day" maxlength="2">

Outcome

A patient typing an appointment date keeps control of focus and can review each field before moving on.

Who is affected

Screen reader and switch-access users entering an appointment date get their focus forcibly relocated before they've confirmed what they typed.

Learn more

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