Career Counseling & Job Search Resources | Mount St. Mary's University

Apply to the Mount | Mount St. Mary's University

Graduate Admissions | Mount St. Mary's University

Employers | Mount St. Mary's University

Colleges, Schools & Divisions | Mount St. Mary's University

Academics | Mount St. Mary's University

Visit | Mount St. Mary's University

Careers by Major | Mount St. Mary's University

Career Center | Mount St. Mary's University

404 Error: Hmm...something isn't right. | Mount St. Mary's 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

August 2025

July 2025

Mount Saint Mary's University

Title / URL	Issues
Career Counseling & Job Search Resources \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/academics/career-center/career-counseling.html	7
Apply to the Mount \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/applications.html	7
Graduate Admissions \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/admissions/graduate-admissions/index.html	7
Employers \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/academics/career-center/employers.html	7
Colleges, Schools & Divisions \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/academics/schools-divisions/index.html	7
Academics \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/academics/index.html	7
Visit \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/admissions/visit-campus/index.html	7
Careers by Major \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/academics/career-center/careers-by-major.html	7
Career Center \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/academics/career-center/index.html	7
404 Error: Hmm...something isn't right. \| Mount St. Mary's Universitymsmary.edu/invented-url-for-404-page	7

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Mount Saint Mary's University

Where this issue has occurred