Don't show focus outline on buttons for mouse users
Update: keeping it - gitlab-org/gitlab-services/design.gitlab.com!3753 (merged)
We currently show the focus outline for all input types, but it is not useful for all users. For mouse or touchscreen -heavy users, the focused element is important when inputting text. On phones it shows why the keyboard is visible.
Reasons to remove it
- looks a bit out of place for people who don't need it
- browser's
focus-visibleinterpretation similar to user-agent preferences (maybe?)
Reasons to keep it
- more people seeing focus rings means less chance of accidentally introducing focus-ring bugs (like
overflow: hiddencutting off the outline) -
focus-withincan be too naive. We can’t assume only keyboard users benefit from visible focus" - Gives all inputs consistent outlines. Most recently unified in !2687 (merged)
- relevant discussion, #1219 (closed) and is also relevant.
- For loading async content (or switching away from/back to page) you can forget your place. Focus can serve similar role to highlighting current section
- The focus outline confirms the button someone pressed. Helpful for users with tremors, or any time someone's finger covers a control
Links
https://craftcms.com/blog/understanding-visible-focus-indicators
Edited by Simon Knox