Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | What we do

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Road safety

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Who we are

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Save Safely

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Flooding

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Boat safety

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Our premises

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Accessibility

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Safer housing

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Cookies

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

June 2025

May 2025

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

Title / URL	Issues
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| What we dowww.dwfire.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/	7
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| Road safetywww.dwfire.org.uk/education/road-safety/	7
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| Who we arewww.dwfire.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are/	7
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| Save Safelywww.dwfire.org.uk/safety/save-safely/	7
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| Floodingwww.dwfire.org.uk/safety/flooding/	7
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| Boat safetywww.dwfire.org.uk/safety/boat-safety/	7
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| Our premiseswww.dwfire.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are/our-premises/	7
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| Accessibilitywww.dwfire.org.uk/accessibility/	7
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| Safer housingwww.dwfire.org.uk/safer-housing/	7
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service \| Cookieswww.dwfire.org.uk/cookies/	7

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

Where this issue has occurred