Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School

Featured Topics - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School

Podcasts - Newsroom - Harvard Business School

Academic Units - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School

Page not found - Harvard Business School

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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

Harvard Business School

	Title / URL	Issues
	Faculty & Research - Harvard Business Schoolwww.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/default.aspx	60
	Featured Topics - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business Schoolwww.hbs.edu/faculty/topics/Pages/default.aspx	41
	Podcasts - Newsroom - Harvard Business Schoolwww.hbs.edu/news/podcasts/Pages/default.aspx	34
	Academic Units - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business Schoolwww.hbs.edu/faculty/units/Pages/default.aspx	17
	Page not found - Harvard Business Schoolwww.hbs.edu/invented-url-for-404-page	13
	Student Life \| MBAwww.hbs.edu/mba/student-life	3
	Get In Touch \| Aboutwww.hbs.edu/about/contact	2
	Campus & Community \| Aboutwww.hbs.edu/about/campus-and-culture	1
	Admissions \| MBAwww.hbs.edu/mba/admissions	1
	About \| Harvard Business Schoolwww.hbs.edu/about	1

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Harvard Business School

Where this issue has occurred