The HTMLElement.tabIndex property represents the tab order of the current element.

Tab order is as follows:
  1. elements with a positive tabIndex. Elements that have identical tabIndexes should be navigated in the order they appear. Navigation proceeds from the lowest tabIndex to the highest tabIndex. 
  2. Elements that do not support the tabIndex attribute or support it and assign tabIndex to "0", in the order they appear.
Elements that are disabled do not participate in the tabbing order.
 
Values don't need to be sequential nor must they begin with any particular value, they may even be negative, though each browser trims very large values.
 

Syntax

elt.tabIndex = index;
var index = elt.tabIndex;
  • index is an integer

Example

var b1 = document.getElementById("button1");
 
b1.tabIndex = 1;

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
WHATWG HTML Living Standard
The definition of 'tabindex' in that specification.
Living Standard No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 HTML Specification.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 HTML Specification
The definition of 'tabindex' in that specification.
Recommendation No change from Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification.
Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Specification
The definition of 'tabindex' in that specification.
Recommendation Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes)
Feature Android Chrome for Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes)

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Last updated by: bchuchua,