Is it possible to focus on a using JavaScript focus() function?

Question

Is it possible to focus on a <div> using JavaScript focus() function?

I have a <div> tag

<div id="tries">You have 3 tries left</div>

I am trying to focus on the above <div> using :

document.getElementById('tries').focus();

But it doesn't work. Could someone suggest something....?

Answer 1

Yes - this is possible. In order to do it, you need to assign a tabindex...

<div tabindex="0">Hello World</div>

A tabindex of 0 will put the tag "in the natural tab order of the page". A higher number will give it a specific order of priority, where 1 will be the first, 2 second and so on.

You can also give a tabindex of -1, which will make the div only focus-able by script, not the user.

document.getElementById('test').onclick = function () {
    document.getElementById('scripted').focus();
};

div:focus {
    background-color: Aqua;
}

<div>Element X (not focusable)</div>
<div tabindex="0">Element Y (user or script focusable)</div>
<div tabindex="-1" id="scripted">Element Z (script-only focusable)</div>
<div id="test">Set Focus To Element Z</div>

Obviously, it is a shame to have an element you can focus by script that you can't focus by other input method (especially if a user is keyboard only or similarly constrained). There are also a whole bunch of standard elements that are focusable by default and have semantic information baked in to assist users. Use this knowledge wisely.

Answer 2

window.location.hash = '#tries';

This will scroll to the element in question, essentially "focus"ing it.

Answer 3

document.getElementById('tries').scrollIntoView() works. This works better than window.location.hash when you have fixed positioning.

Answer 4

You can use tabindex

<div tabindex="-1"  id="tries"></div>

The tabindex value can allow for some interesting behaviour.

• If given a value of "-1", the element can't be tabbed to but focus can be given to the element programmatically (using element.focus()).
• If given a value of 0, the element can be focused via the keyboard and falls into the tabbing flow of the document. Values greater than 0 create a priority level with 1 being the most important.

Answer 5

<div id="inner" tabindex="0">
    this div can now have focus and receive keyboard events
</div>

Answer 6

document.getElementById('test').onclick = function () {
    document.getElementById('scripted').focus();
};

div:focus {
    background-color: Aqua;
}

<div>Element X (not focusable)</div>
<div tabindex="0">Element Y (user or script focusable)</div>
<div tabindex="-1" id="scripted">Element Z (script-only focusable)</div>
<div id="test">Set Focus To Element Z</div>

Answer 7

I wanted to suggest something like Michael Shimmin's but without hardcoding things like the element, or the CSS that is applied to it.

I'm only using jQuery for add/remove class, if you don't want to use jquery, you just need a replacement for add/removeClass

--Javascript

function highlight(el, durationMs) { 
  el = $(el);
  el.addClass('highlighted');
  setTimeout(function() {
    el.removeClass('highlighted')
  }, durationMs || 1000);
}

highlight(document.getElementById('tries'));

--CSS

#tries {
    border: 1px solid gray;
}

#tries.highlighted {
    border: 3px solid red;
}

Answer 8

To make the border flash you can do this:

function focusTries() {
    document.getElementById('tries').style.border = 'solid 1px #ff0000;'
    setTimeout ( clearBorder(), 1000 );
}

function clearBorder() {
    document.getElementById('tries').style.border = '';
}

This will make the border solid red for 1 second then remove it again.