Advice about benefits you can claim and other ways to boost your income | Independent Age

Our grant-making | Independent Age

Donate to Independent Age

Our history | Independent Age

About us | Independent Age

Privacy policy | Independent Age

News and media | Independent Age

Your home and housing | Independent Age

Information and advice | Independent Age

Hi Digital – bridging the digital divide | Independent Age

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

May 2025

April 2025

Independent Age

Title / URL	Issues
Advice about benefits you can claim and other ways to boost your income \| Independent Agewww.independentage.org/get-advice/money	32
Our grant-making \| Independent Agewww.independentage.org/grant-making	30
Donate to Independent Agewww.independentage.org/donate	30
Our history \| Independent Agewww.independentage.org/about/history	30
About us \| Independent Agewww.independentage.org/about	30
Privacy policy \| Independent Agewww.independentage.org/privacy-policy	30
News and media \| Independent Agewww.independentage.org/news-media	30
Your home and housing \| Independent Agewww.independentage.org/get-advice/housing	30
Information and advice \| Independent Agewww.independentage.org/get-advice	30
Hi Digital – bridging the digital divide \| Independent Agewww.independentage.org/hidigital	30

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Independent Age

Where this issue has occurred