QinetiQ TechWatch Publication

News & Blogs

QinetiQ Group Cookie Policy

Defence

QinetiQ - Podcasts

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QinetiQ Target Systems - Design, Development and Manufacturing

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About our company - QinetiQ

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 TechWatch Publicationwww.qinetiq.com/en/insights/techwatch	32
News & Blogswww.qinetiq.com/en/news-and-blogs	30
QinetiQ Group Cookie Policywww.qinetiq.com/en/cookie-policy	29
Defencewww.qinetiq.com/en/markets/defence	27
QinetiQ - Podcastswww.qinetiq.com/en/podcasts	27
Marinewww.qinetiq.com/en/markets/marine	26
QinetiQ Target Systems - Design, Development and Manufacturingwww.qinetiq.com/en/what-we-do/target-systems	26
Law Enforcement Protective Products & Services at QinetiQwww.qinetiq.com/en/markets/law-enforcement	26
Our Historywww.qinetiq.com/en/our-company/our-history	26
About our company - QinetiQwww.qinetiq.com/en/our-company	25

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

QinetiQ

Where this issue has occurred