Search • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngage

Notify Me • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngage

Alert Center • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngage

Pages • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngage

Staff Directory • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngage

Site Map • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngage

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 2025

August 2025

Dallas County, Iowa

Title / URL	Issues
Search • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngagewww.dallascountyiowa.gov/Search	1
Notify Me • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngagewww.dallascountyiowa.gov/list.aspx	1
Alert Center • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngagewww.dallascountyiowa.gov/AlertCenter.aspx	1
Pages • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngagewww.dallascountyiowa.gov/copyright	1
Staff Directory • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngagewww.dallascountyiowa.gov/Directory.aspx	1
Pages • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngagewww.dallascountyiowa.gov/accessibility	1
Site Map • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngagewww.dallascountyiowa.gov/sitemap	1
Staff Directory • Dallas County, IA • CivicEngagewww.dallascountyiowa.gov/directory.aspx	1

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Dallas County, Iowa

Where this issue has occurred