Information for your country - Study - Cardiff University

University map - Visitor information - Cardiff University

Explore undergraduate subjects - Study - Cardiff University

Privacy - Help - Cardiff University

International - Study - Cardiff University

Update your details - Alumni - Cardiff University

Features - Alumni - Cardiff University

Browse undergraduate courses by School - Study - Cardiff University

University of Namibia - Global - Cardiff University

Browse by School - News - Cardiff University

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

August 2025

July 2025

Cardiff University

Title / URL	Issues
Information for your country - Study - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/study/international/your-country	100
University map - Visitor information - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/visit/map	100
Explore undergraduate subjects - Study - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/subjects	76
Privacy - Help - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/help/privacy	70
International - Study - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/study/international	68
Update your details - Alumni - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/alumni/stay-connected/update-your-details	62
Features - Alumni - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/alumni/news/features	61
Browse undergraduate courses by School - Study - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/browse-by-school	57
University of Namibia - Global - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/global/global-partnerships/university-of-namibia	57
Browse by School - News - Cardiff Universitywww.cardiff.ac.uk/news/browse-by-school	57

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Cardiff University

Where this issue has occurred