[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #21324: Visible Focus within Admin Screens could be much clearer.

[WordPress Trac]

#21324: Visible Focus within Admin Screens could be much clearer.
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 Reporter:  grahamarmfield  |       Owner:
     Type:  task (blessed)  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal          |   Milestone:  3.5
Component:  Accessibility   |     Version:  3.4.1
 Severity:  normal          |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch       |
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Comment (by grahamarmfield):

 Replying to [comment:44 helenyhou]:
 > Late to the party, but I'd love to know more about why we're doing so
 much blurring with JS and why it's a good path forward. Something about
 blurring clicks on almost every link in the admin just to maintain the
 design in its non-active state doesn't seem right. Also, like azaozz, I am
 worried about what it could potentially affect that we haven't thought of
 or encountered yet.
 I know very little about how the WordPress Admin screens are put together
 but I am surprised that it's necessary to use javascript to toggle the
 focus state on and off. Wouldn't using :focus in the CSS do the job as
 well? But as I say I don't know how the screens are put together.
 >
 > What would issues be with using outline (like the way many browsers do
 by default) and allowing it to continue showing after clicking instead of
 blurring it away? There wasn't an outline on focus before, so it really
 was completely unnoticeable where you were if you tabbed around even a
 little bit, but I feel like the background color was a little bit of an
 awkward way to go in core. I also think that there is something to be said
 for going with browser defaults, as it's what people are accustomed to
 looking for. I actually don't really notice the blue because I'm expecting
 an outline instead.
 >
 > As for the higher visibility part - a background color does indeed seem
 more visible than an outline, but to be honest, at least in this
 application, it looks weird and out of place in the design. That we need
 to hide it via that JS blur speaks to that, I think. Because it's not a
 browser default way of handling focus styles, it should especially fit
 with the admin, and I don't think it does. It's also not great for regular
 text links that don't have padding because it won't extend past the
 boundaries of the text itself and makes the text rather harder to read
 because of all the edges at once.
 You say yourself that having a background colour is more visible than an
 outline - and that's what so good about the background colour option for
 me. Outlines can be easily overlooked. I'm sure that it feels odd to see a
 background colour on focus within the admin screens but to me this looks
 like a very positive development. Those users using a mouse will not see
 the background colour.
 >
 > I definitely want to support high visibility/high contrast/enhanced
 accessibility, but I think implementing something along those lines as the
 default in core (as opposed to a mode or a plugin) to the detriment of
 other parts (the overall visual and JS in this case) is not advisable. We
 can certainly do better than what we had in terms of visible focus,
 because we kind of had nothing, but I think we've gone past a sane default
 state into what should probably be in an enhanced accessibility mode
 instead, and needing a JS workaround to accommodate what should be basic
 styling is not good.
 My view is that improved accessibility should be a default option wherever
 possible - not subject to a plugin. I don't believe any of the
 accessibility improvements in 3.5 that I've seen so far compromise the
 experience for existing users.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/21324#comment:45>
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