How to Achieve Keyboard-Only Focus Styles Without Affecting Visual Aesthetics?

Achieving Keyboard-Only Focus Styles

You aim to disable :focus when unnecessary, as it aesthetically conflicts with the active state. However, you wish to retain focus styles for keyboard users. Here's a comprehensive approach to address this:

The :focus-visible Solution

Consider using :focus-visible, a pseudo-class that indicates focus when beneficial to the user, such as during keyboard interaction. Modern browsers now support this pseudo-class.

Using :focus-visible, you can apply focus styles conditionally:

<code class="css">button:focus-visible {
  /* remove default focus style */
  outline: none;
  /* custom focus styles */
  box-shadow: 0 0 2px 2px #51a7e8;
  color: lime;
}</code>

Browser Compatibility

Browsers without :focus-visible support may still display default focus rings. To ensure consistent behavior, use a fallback strategy:

<code class="css">button:focus {
  outline: none;
  background: #ffdd00; /* gold */
}

button:focus:not(:focus-visible) {
  background: white; /* undo gold */
}</code>

Keyboard-Only Focus Styles

For a keyboard-only focus style solution, consider using this approach:

<code class="css">button {
  -moz-appearance: none;
  -webkit-appearance: none;
  background: none;
  border: none;
  outline: none;
  font-size: inherit;
}

.btn {
  all: initial;
  margin: 1em;
  display: inline-block; 
}

.btn__content {
  background: orange;
  padding: 1em;
  cursor: pointer;
  display: inline-block;
}


/* Fixing the Safari bug for `<button>`s overflow */
.btn__content {
    position: relative;
}

/* All the states on the inner element */
.btn:hover > .btn__content  {
    background: salmon;
}

.btn:active > .btn__content  {
    background: darkorange;
}

.btn:focus > .btn__content  {
    box-shadow: 0 0 2px 2px #51a7e8;
    color: lime;
}

/* Removing default outline only after we've added our custom one */
.btn:focus,
.btn__content:focus {
    outline: none;
}</button></code>

This method employs an inner element () within each button/link/etc. and sets the tabindex for this inner element. Focus styles are applied only to the inner element, ensuring they appear only on keyboard focus.

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