Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

By "keyboard" I assume you mean TAB-key-based navigation (I don't know of any other included in the browsers)? If so, it looks to me that links are in fact TAB-stops, but they're not being highlighted. It's something that should be solvable with a CSS adjustment.


If the links are not highlighted by default, then tab navigation is basically non-existent since I cannot see where I'd be redirected and I personally bother to write custom CSS only for the websites I visit very often.

Is there an actual reason to disable highlighting? It lowers usability and accessibility, but I'm not sure what do you get in return?


Oops, I'll fix that, thank you. I'm assuming the designer thought it looked "better".

Also I use Vimium so I never noticed, since that mode of navigation is much faster.


> Is there an actual reason to disable highlighting?

Some browsers, Chrome especially, show the focus outline when elements are clicked with a mouse and some people think it looks unacceptably bad.

Focus-visible is a CSS property meant to solve that but it’s only supported in Firefox and requires browser heuristics to do the right thing.

https://caniuse.com/#feat=css-focus-visible

https://css-tricks.com/keyboard-only-focus-styles/


...also known as "directional navigation" — widely used by screen readers and browsers on Android TV or some Android Auto devices.




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: