QinetiQ - Board of Directors

Test & Evaluation

Space services

Insights

Financial Security Consultancy Services at QinetiQ

News & Blogs

Law Enforcement Protective Products & Services at QinetiQ

National Security Emerging Technologies from QinetiQ

QinetiQ TechWatch Publication

QinetiQ - Our Locations

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

QinetiQ

	Title / URL	Issues
	QinetiQ - Board of Directorswww.qinetiq.com/en/our-company/board-of-directors	39
	Test & Evaluationwww.qinetiq.com/en/what-we-do/test-and-evaluation	30
	Space serviceswww.qinetiq.com/en/markets/space	30
	Insightswww.qinetiq.com/en/insights	29
	Financial Security Consultancy Services at QinetiQwww.qinetiq.com/en/markets/financial-services	28
	News & Blogswww.qinetiq.com/en/news-and-blogs	28
	Law Enforcement Protective Products & Services at QinetiQwww.qinetiq.com/en/markets/law-enforcement	28
	National Security Emerging Technologies from QinetiQwww.qinetiq.com/en/markets/government	28
	QinetiQ TechWatch Publicationwww.qinetiq.com/en/insights/techwatch	27
	QinetiQ - Our Locationswww.qinetiq.com/en/our-company/our-locations	26

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

QinetiQ

Where this issue has occurred