Columbia-DIAS-Yale Initiative Update – DIAS

School of Celtic Studies – DIAS

Freedom of Information – DIAS

News – DIAS

Page not found – DIAS

DIAS 2020 – Marking 80 Years of Discovery – DIAS

Samhain agus Science – DIAS

Privacy Statement – DIAS

DIAS – DIAS 2023 – Over 80 years of Discovery

Astronomy & Astrophysics – DIAS

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

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

Title / URL	Issues
Columbia-DIAS-Yale Initiative Update – DIASwww.dias.ie/2022/09/19/cdy-initiative/	2
School of Celtic Studies – DIASwww.dias.ie/celt/	2
Freedom of Information – DIASwww.dias.ie/2010/05/14/dias-foi/	2
News – DIASwww.dias.ie/category/dias/dias-news/	2
Page not found – DIASwww.dias.ie/invented-url-for-404-page	2
DIAS 2020 – Marking 80 Years of Discovery – DIASwww.dias.ie/about-us/dias2020/	2
Samhain agus Science – DIASwww.dias.ie/samhain-agus-science/	2
Privacy Statement – DIASwww.dias.ie/2010/05/14/dias-privacy/	2
DIAS – DIAS 2023 – Over 80 years of Discoverywww.dias.ie/	2
Astronomy & Astrophysics – DIASwww.dias.ie/cosmicphysics/astrophysics/	2

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

Where this issue has occurred