Avoid autofocus on form fields

Autofocus teleports screen reader users to mid-page without context—they miss everything before the form and have no idea where they landed.

Quick Reference

• Avoid autofocus on pages with content before the form
• Autofocus disrupts screen reader users who lose page context
• Use JavaScript focus after user interaction instead of page load
• Login and search-only pages are exceptions where autofocus may be acceptable

Check

Search for autofocus attributes on form elements. Verify that page load does not unexpectedly move focus away from the page top, especially on pages with content before the form.

Fix

Remove autofocus attributes from form elements. If focus management is needed, use JavaScript to set focus after user interaction rather than automatically on page load.