Focus Management
// Definition
The practice of programmatically controlling which element receives keyboard focus in response to user interaction or content changes — particularly when opening and closing dynamic UI components such as modals, drawers, toast messages, and single-page navigation. Correct focus management ensures that keyboard and screen-reader users are always aware of their position in the interface. QA testers verify that opening a modal moves focus into it, focus is constrained within the modal while it is open (a deliberate focus trap), closing the modal returns focus to the triggering element, and client-side navigation moves focus to the new page heading or a skip target.
// Related terms
Keyboard Navigation
The ability to operate all interactive elements of a user interface using only a keyboard — Tab to move between focusable elements, Enter/Space to activate controls, arrow keys within composite widgets, and Escape to dismiss overlays. WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.1.1 requires that all functionality is operable via keyboard. QA testers verify keyboard navigation by tabbing through a page without a mouse, confirming a visible focus indicator appears on every focusable element, the tab order follows the logical reading order, and no keyboard trap prevents a user from moving forward or escaping a component.
ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications)
A W3C specification that adds roles, states, and properties to HTML elements to expose semantics to assistive technologies when native HTML alone is insufficient. The first rule of ARIA is: do not use ARIA — prefer native HTML elements (button, input, nav) that carry the correct semantics implicitly. Incorrect ARIA can make an interface less accessible than no ARIA at all. QA testers check that ARIA roles match the component's actual behaviour, required states (aria-expanded, aria-selected, aria-checked) update dynamically, and aria-label or aria-labelledby provides meaningful names for elements that lack visible text.
Accessibility
The practice of designing and testing software so it is usable by people with a wide range of abilities — including users who rely on screen readers, keyboard navigation, voice control, switch access, or high-contrast display modes. In QA, accessibility testing involves both automated scanning and manual verification. Automated tools (axe, Lighthouse, Accessibility Scanner for Android, Accessibility Inspector for iOS) catch structural issues such as missing labels, insufficient colour contrast, and incorrect ARIA roles — typically around a third of all accessibility issues. The remaining two-thirds require testing with actual assistive technologies: VoiceOver on iOS, TalkBack on Android, NVDA or JAWS on Windows. WCAG 2.1 AA is the most widely referenced standard; Level AA compliance is required by law in many jurisdictions (ADA, EN 301 549, AODA). Integrating accessibility checks into CI — for example, running axe as part of a Playwright or Selenium test suite — prevents regressions from being merged undetected.