Financial Aid: Students: Student Engagement: Indiana University South Bend

Advising and Support: Indiana University South Bend

How to Register for Classes: Advising and Support: Indiana University South Bend

Meet Our Staff: Advising and Support: Indiana University South Bend

Registrar: Students: Student Engagement: Indiana University South Bend

Frequently Asked Questions: Advising and Support: Indiana University South Bend

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

July 2025

June 2025

Indiana University South Bend

	Title / URL	Issues
	Financial Aid: Students: Student Engagement: Indiana University South Bendsouthbend.iu.edu/students/financial-aid/index.html	28
	Advising and Support: Indiana University South Bendsouthbend.iu.edu/advising/index.html	25
	How to Register for Classes: Advising and Support: Indiana University South Bendsouthbend.iu.edu/advising/register-for-classes.html	25
	Meet Our Staff: Advising and Support: Indiana University South Bendsouthbend.iu.edu/advising/meet-our-staff.html	22
	Registrar: Students: Student Engagement: Indiana University South Bendsouthbend.iu.edu/students/registrar/index.html	21
	Frequently Asked Questions: Advising and Support: Indiana University South Bendsouthbend.iu.edu/advising/faq.html	18

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Indiana University South Bend

Where this issue has occurred