Focus order
Also known as: Tab order
Focus order is the sequence in which the keyboard moves through a page as you press Tab. It should follow the logical reading order.
In plain terms
When someone tabs through your page, focus should move in an order that makes sense — top to bottom, left to right, the way you'd read it. Problems happen when CSS moves things around visually but the underlying HTML order is different, so focus jumps around unpredictably.
Why it matters
A jumbled focus order is disorienting and can make forms impossible to complete in the right sequence. Keeping your HTML in logical order satisfies WCAG 2.4.3 and usually just means writing the markup in the order things should be read.
A form where the "Submit" button is coded before the fields will focus the button first — fix the source order rather than patching it with tabindex.
Related terms
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