Visual Focus
A visual focus on a web page is generally represented by a dashed box or border that appears around items associated with tabbing.
Why it matters
Per the Bureau of Internet Accessibility, visual focus is all about navigation.
Users who rely heavily on, or even solely, on a keyboard need clear on-screen indications of what objects or links are selected to navigate your site and access what they need properly.
A visible focus indicator is accessible to keyboard and screen reader users because it shows what they're interacting with.
Only one element on a page can be focused on at a time, which should be obvious. Most focusable elements are interactive – form fields, links, buttons, tooltips, etc.
Use the "Tab" key on your keyboard for general navigation. You should be able to use "Tab" to bring each element clearly into focus, and the "Enter" key should select it.
While the visible focus is important for blind and visually impaired people who use screen readers and keyboard interactions, it also helps people with executive dysfunction and other vision or processing-related issues (light sensitivity, headaches and migraines, etc.) because it draws attention to one thing at a time. This helps reduce the cognitive load.
Best practices
