Student Financial Assistance | Nova Southeastern University

Graduate Degrees, Programs & Studies | Nova Southeastern University

Division of Research and Economic Development | NSU

Libraries

Healthcare, Biotechnology, Life & Social Science Research | Nova Southeastern University

Title IX Home | Nova Southeastern University

Continuing Education Programs | Nova Southeastern University

NSU Center for Collaborative Research

Office of Human Resources | NSU

Veterans Resource Center | Nova Southeastern University (NSU)

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

January 2025

December 2024

Nova Southeastern University

Title / URL	Issues
Student Financial Assistance \| Nova Southeastern Universitywww.nova.edu/financialaid/index.html	1
Graduate Degrees, Programs & Studies \| Nova Southeastern Universitywww.nova.edu/graduate/index.html	1
Division of Research and Economic Development \| NSUwww.nova.edu/dor/index.html	1
Librarieswww.nova.edu/research/libraries.html	1
Healthcare, Biotechnology, Life & Social Science Research \| Nova Southeastern Universitywww.nova.edu/research/areas/index.html	1
Title IX Home \| Nova Southeastern Universitywww.nova.edu/title-ix/index.html	1
Continuing Education Programs \| Nova Southeastern Universitywww.nova.edu/ce/index.html	1
NSU Center for Collaborative Researchwww.nova.edu/research/ccr/index.html	1
Office of Human Resources \| NSUwww.nova.edu/hr/index.html	1
Veterans Resource Center \| Nova Southeastern University (NSU)www.nova.edu/veterans/index.html	1

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Nova Southeastern University

Where this issue has occurred