ETSU A to Z Index

ETSU Undergraduate Admissions

Explore ETSU

Quick Links For Staff

Quillen College of Medicine

ETSU News

ETSU Safe

ETSU Calendar

ETSU Online Degrees & Certificates

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

February 2025

January 2025

East Tennessee State University

Title / URL	Issues
ETSU A to Z Indexwww.etsu.edu/ehome/atoz/default.php	26
ETSU Undergraduate Admissionswww.etsu.edu/admissions/default.php	26
Explore ETSUwww.etsu.edu/admissions/visit/	25
Quick Links For Staffwww.etsu.edu/home/staff-links.php	24
Quillen College of Medicinewww.etsu.edu/com/default.php	23
ETSU Newswww.etsu.edu/etsu-news/default.php	23
ETSU Safewww.etsu.edu/safety/etsu_safe.php	22
ETSU Calendarwww.etsu.edu/calendar/	22
ETSU Online Degrees & Certificateswww.etsu.edu/online/default.php	22
ETSU Calendarwww.etsu.edu/calendar/default.php	22

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

East Tennessee State University

Where this issue has occurred