contact us

Veolia Water | Open Water

cookies policy

yorkshire water | Open Water

The Water Retail Company | Open Water

FAQs | Open Water - Part 3

Waterscan | Open Water

open water | your water, your choice | for business customers

Castle Water Limited | Open Water

media information

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

Open Water market

	Title / URL	Issues
	contact uswww.open-water.org.uk/about-open-water/contact-us/	14
	Veolia Water \| Open Waterwww.open-water.org.uk/for-customers/find-a-retailer/suppliers/veolia-water/	14
	cookies policywww.open-water.org.uk/cookies-policy/	14
	yorkshire water \| Open Waterwww.open-water.org.uk/for-customers/self-supply/yorkshire-water/	14
	The Water Retail Company \| Open Waterwww.open-water.org.uk/for-customers/find-a-retailer/suppliers/the-water-retail-company/	14
	FAQs \| Open Water - Part 3www.open-water.org.uk/about-open-water/faqs/page/3/	14
	Waterscan \| Open Waterwww.open-water.org.uk/for-customers/find-a-retailer/suppliers/waterscan/	14
	open water \| your water, your choice \| for business customerswww.open-water.org.uk/for-customers/	14
	Castle Water Limited \| Open Waterwww.open-water.org.uk/for-customers/find-a-retailer/suppliers/castle-water-ltd/	14
	media informationwww.open-water.org.uk/media-information/	14

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Open Water market

Where this issue has occurred