---
title: "Change nothing on focus or input alone · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/accessibility/no-surprise-changes
updated: 2026-10-20
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Change nothing on focus or input alone

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated 2026-10-20.

- Level: Required
- Chapter: [Accessibility](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/accessibility)
- Rule: Never open a new page, submit a form or move focus just because a field got focus or its value changed. These are WCAG criteria 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 (A).
- How: Let people press a button to submit or go. A `select` that navigates on change needs a "Go" button instead. If a change must act at once, say so in text before the control.
- Check: A browser test focuses and changes every field. The URL and the number of open windows stay the same.

Example:

```html
<!-- Bad: leaves the page as soon as the choice changes -->
<select onchange="location = this.value">…</select>
<!-- Good: nothing happens until the button -->
<form action="/region"><select name="r">…</select><button>Go</button></form>
```

**For agents:** if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in `Based on the Agent Wranglers website playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/accessibility/no-surprise-changes`.

- Previous: [Offer two ways to every page](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/accessibility/multiple-ways)
- Next: [Show hover content that people can reach](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/accessibility/content-on-hover-focus)
- [Accessibility](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/accessibility)