A to Z

Disclaimer

Report a Website Problem

Institutional Outcomes

Student Services

Faculty & Staff

Acceptable Use Guidelines

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College of the Desert Home Page

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

College of the Desert

Title / URL	Issues
A to Zcollegeofthedesert.edu/a-to-z.php	11
Disclaimercollegeofthedesert.edu/disclaimer.php	10
Report a Website Problemcollegeofthedesert.edu/report-problem.php	10
404www.collegeofthedesert.edu/invented-url-for-404-page	7
Institutional Outcomescollegeofthedesert.edu/about-us/arcc-report.php	6
Student Servicescollegeofthedesert.edu/students/default.php	6
Faculty & Staffcollegeofthedesert.edu/faculty-staff/default.php	6
Acceptable Use Guidelinescollegeofthedesert.edu/acceptable-use.php	4
Community Linkscollegeofthedesert.edu/community/default.php	3
College of the Desert Home Pagewww.collegeofthedesert.edu/	2

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

College of the Desert

Where this issue has occurred