Painting Minor | Otis College

Graphic Design Minor | Otis College

Contemporary Clay Minor | Otis College of Art and Design

Art History Minor Department | Otis College

Art and Design Education | Otis College

Product Design Minor | Otis College

Illustration Minor | Otis College

Sustainability Minor | Otis College

Creative Writing Minor | Otis College

Digital Media Minor | Otis College

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

Otis College of Art and Design

Title / URL	Issues
Painting Minor \| Otis Collegeotis.edu/painting-minor	1
Graphic Design Minor \| Otis Collegeotis.edu/graphic-design-minor	1
Contemporary Clay Minor \| Otis College of Art and Designotis.edu/contemporary-clay-minor	1
Art History Minor Department \| Otis Collegeotis.edu/art-history-minor	1
Art and Design Education \| Otis Collegeotis.edu/art-design-education	1
Product Design Minor \| Otis Collegeotis.edu/product-design-minor	1
Illustration Minor \| Otis Collegeotis.edu/illustration-minor	1
Sustainability Minor \| Otis Collegeotis.edu/sustainability-minor	1
Creative Writing Minor \| Otis Collegeotis.edu/creative-writing-minor	1
Digital Media Minor \| Otis Collegeotis.edu/digital-media-minor	1

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Otis College of Art and Design

Where this issue has occurred