Hoffman Family Library | Goodwin University

Foundation | Goodwin University

Continuing Education | Goodwin University

Academic Minors | Goodwin University

The Goodwin University Institute for Learning Innovation | Goodwin University

404 Page Not Found | Goodwin University

Early College Programs in CT | Goodwin University

Registrar | Goodwin University

Admissions | Goodwin University

Counseling Services | Goodwin University

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

January 2025

December 2024

Goodwin College

Title / URL	Issues
Hoffman Family Library \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/library/	12
Foundation \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/foundation/	6
Continuing Education \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/continuing-ed/	6
Academic Minors \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/minors/	5
The Goodwin University Institute for Learning Innovation \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/guili/	5
404 Page Not Found \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/invented-url-for-404-page	5
Early College Programs in CT \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/early-college/	5
Registrar \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/registrar/	5
Admissions \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/admissions/	5
Counseling Services \| Goodwin Universitywww.goodwin.edu/counseling/	5

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Goodwin College

Where this issue has occurred