Williams Library | Northern State University in South Dakota

Academics | Northern State University in South Dakota

Office of the President | Northern State University in South Dakota

Request Information | Northern State University

Page Not Found | Northern State University

Financial Aid FAQs | Northern State University in South Dakota

University Accreditation | Northern State University in South Dakota

Student Life | Northern State University in South Dakota

Visit Campus | Northern State University in South Dakota

Departments List | Northern State University in South Dakota

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

Northern State University

	Title / URL	Issues
	Williams Library \| Northern State University in South Dakotanorthern.edu/library	6
	Academics \| Northern State University in South Dakotanorthern.edu/academics	2
	Office of the President \| Northern State University in South Dakotanorthern.edu/about/president	2
	Request Information \| Northern State Universitynorthern.edu/request-information	2
	Page Not Found \| Northern State Universitynorthern.edu/invented-url-for-404-page	2
	Financial Aid FAQs \| Northern State University in South Dakotanorthern.edu/financial-aid/faqs	2
	University Accreditation \| Northern State University in South Dakotanorthern.edu/about/accreditation	2
	Student Life \| Northern State University in South Dakotanorthern.edu/student-life	2
	Visit Campus \| Northern State University in South Dakotanorthern.edu/admissions/visit	2
	Departments List \| Northern State University in South Dakotanorthern.edu/about/departments	2

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Northern State University

Where this issue has occurred