FERPA - Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act | Howard University

Contact the Office of Registrar | Howard University

Forms | Howard University

Fields of Study | Howard University

Centers & Institutes | Howard University

History | Howard University

Mission & Core Values | Howard University

Contact Directory | Howard University

About D.C. | Howard University

Academics | Howard 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

June 2025

May 2025

Howard University

Title / URL	Issues
FERPA - Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/registrar/FERPA	7
Contact the Office of Registrar \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/registrar/contact	7
Forms \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/registrar/forms	7
Fields of Study \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/fields-of-study	5
Centers & Institutes \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/centers-institutes	5
History \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/about/history	5
Mission & Core Values \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/about/mission	5
Contact Directory \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/contact	5
About D.C. \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/about/about-dc	5
Academics \| Howard Universityhoward.edu/academics	5

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Howard University

Where this issue has occurred