Hello, welcome to Southwark | Southwark Council

Southwark Presents | Southwark Council

Find a library | Southwark Council

Housing | Southwark Council

Contact us | Southwark Council

Leisure projects | Southwark Council

Complaints and feedback | Southwark Council

New mayor and Cabinet announced | Southwark Council

Parking | Southwark Council

Housing support | Southwark Council

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

April 2025

March 2025

London Borough of Southwark Council

Title / URL	Issues
Hello, welcome to Southwark \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/	57
Southwark Presents \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/southwark-presents	52
Find a library \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/culture-and-sport/libraries/find-library	48
Housing \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/housing	48
Contact us \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/about-council/contact-us	48
Leisure projects \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/culture-and-sport/leisure-projects	46
Complaints and feedback \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/about-council/complaints-and-feedback	43
New mayor and Cabinet announced \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/news/2024/new-mayor-and-cabinet-announced	43
Parking \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/parking-streets-and-transport/parking	42
Housing support \| Southwark Councilwww.southwark.gov.uk/housing/housing-support	42

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

London Borough of Southwark Council

Where this issue has occurred