fireEvent.focus should be discouraged

Describe the feature you’d like:

Discourage fireEvent.focus(element)

Suggested implementation:

Prefer element.focus()

Describe alternatives you’ve considered:

Don’t use existing API or call element.focus() internally.

Teachability, Documentation, Adoption, Migration Strategy:

fireEvent.focus(element) will not move the focus to the element i.e. document.activeElement !== element. element.focus() will result in document.activeElement === element and dispatch the focus event. fireEvent.focus will also work on non-interactive elements whereas element.focus does not.

Showcase of fireEvent vs imperative focus

[Gpx]

How would it look like? user-event tries to mimic what a user does. AFAIK users can’t give focus to an element. They have to click on it or use tab

[kentcdodds]

That’s a fair point. Maybe @eps1lon’s original suggestion is the best we can do. Recommend that people use .focus() on the dom node rather than fireEvent.focus.