A11ying with Sanna - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines a guide to the accessibility requirements
2 Operable

2.4.3 Focus Order

Conformance level: A
Criterion released in WCAG version: 2.0

Official description of the success criterion

If a Web page can be navigated sequentially and the navigation sequences affect meaning or operation, focusable components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability.

What to do?

Ensure the focus order is logical and intuitive.

Why is it important?

Improves navigation for users relying on keyboard navigation.

Common pitfalls

Moving content around with CSS without considering its effect on the focus order.

Using a positive tabindex. If several elements have positive tabindexes, it becomes more and more likely that the focus order will not be correct.

Check cookie applications, they often have issues with this criterion.

How to test for it?

There are tools, such as Taba11y that can help with testing.

More about this criterion elsewhere