Students | Cal Poly

Life at Cal Poly | Cal Poly

Start Here | Cal Poly

Contact Us | Cal Poly

Visit | Cal Poly

Learn By Doing | Cal Poly

Academics | Cal Poly

Our Colleges | Cal Poly

Centers and Institutes | Cal Poly

Study Abroad | Cal Poly

When selecting a user interface component with the keyboard, the focus indicator must 
not be completely obscured by anything in front of it.

## Why this matters

When using a keyboard, it is important that the user can see where they are on the page.
If the focus indicator is obscured, the user may not know where they are, and may not
be able to interact with the page.

## Examples

Most common examples include:

* Banners at the top or bottom of the page, such as cookie banners
* Fixed navigation bars
* Fixed footers
* Popup modals, such as cookie consent modals

## How to fix

With elements that cover part of the screen, such as cookie banners, ensure
that the user can scroll to see any content behind the banner, without having to close
the banner.

With popup modals, it should usually be impossible to focus anything behind the modal.
Most common modal frameworks will automatically trap focus within the modal, so that
this is impossible. Example: [Bootstrap Modal](https://getbootstrap.com/docs/5.2/components/modal/#live-demo).

## Further reading

This is part of the draft WCAG 2.2 specification and is subject to change.

* [WCAG 2.4.12](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/focus-not-obscured.html)

ensure-focus-is-not-obscured-minimum

September 2024

August 2024

California Polytechnic State University

Title / URL	Issues
Students \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/students	1
Life at Cal Poly \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/life-at-cal-poly	1
Start Here \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/start-here	1
Contact Us \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/contact-us	1
Visit \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/visit	1
Learn By Doing \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/learn-by-doing	1
Academics \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/academics	1
Our Colleges \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/colleges	1
Centers and Institutes \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/centers-and-institutes	1
Study Abroad \| Cal Polywww.calpoly.edu/study-abroad	1

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

California Polytechnic State University

Where this issue has occurred