---
name: Hoverable, dismissible, persistent
slug: hoverable-dismissible-persistent
category: accessibility
status: published
created: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
definition: "The three conditions content revealed on hover or focus must meet:
  reachable with the pointer, dismissible without moving focus, and not
  self-closing."
aliases:
  - name: content on hover or focus
    source: wcag
  - name: dismissible tooltip
    source: community
  - name: hover bridge
    source: community
tags:
  - overlays
  - pointer
  - wcag
relations:
  contrastWith:
    - tooltip
    - toggletip
  variantOf: []
  partOf: []
  seeAlso:
    - hover-intent
    - hover-card
implementations: []
sources:
  - title: "WCAG 2.2: Content on Hover or Focus"
    url: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/#content-on-hover-or-focus
  - title: "W3C SCR39: making content on hover or focus hoverable, dismissible, and
      persistent"
    url: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Techniques/client-side-script/SCR39.html
demo: inline
exhibit: false
useWhen: judging whether a tooltip or flyout behaves
---

This one is unusual: it is a term with no headword. Criterion 1.4.13 is called Content on Hover
or Focus, but nobody says that out loud, and the three conditions it lists are always quoted
together as a set, so the set became the name. Dismissible means there is a way to make the
content go away without moving the pointer or the keyboard, which in practice means Escape.
Hoverable means the pointer can travel onto the revealed content without it vanishing on the
way. Persistent means it stays until the trigger is released, the reader dismisses it, or its
information stops being true. Say all three, in that order, and everybody in the room knows
exactly which rule you mean.

Each condition has its own signature bug. Hoverable fails when there is a gap between the
trigger and the panel, because the pointer crosses that gap, the trigger's hover ends, and the
panel is gone before anybody reaches it. The fix has a nickname of its own, the hover bridge: a
transparent strip covering the gap, or simply anchoring the panel flush against its trigger.
Persistent fails to a timer, which usually looks reasonable to whoever wrote it and is
punishing at four times magnification, where finding the panel and reading it can easily take
longer than the timeout. Dismissible fails when the only way out is to move the mouse, which is
no way out at all for somebody whose pointer is a head tracker or whose magnified viewport
follows the caret.

The criterion applies to anything hover or focus reveals, which is a wider net than people
expect. A [tooltip](/tooltip) is the obvious case. A [hover card](/hover-card) is the harder
one, because it is bigger, it carries links, and being able to reach those links is precisely
what hoverable is protecting. A [popover](/popover) opened by a click is outside the criterion
on its trigger, but the moment it can also be opened by hover it is inside. Menus that open on
hover are inside too.

Dismissible overlaps with [light dismiss](/light-dismiss) without being the same idea. Light
dismiss is about clicking away from a surface to close it, and a pointer press is exactly what
this criterion says must not be required. Escape is what satisfies both at once, which is why
one keydown handler on the surface tends to be the whole repair. There are exceptions worth
knowing: content that reports an input error, and content that obscures nothing, are excused
from the dismissible condition, and content whose information has genuinely expired is allowed
to leave on its own.