Getting Started: Faculty | IT Services

Student Affairs | Queen's University

About | IT Services

Getting Started: Staff | IT Services

Research Centres and Institutes | Vice-Principal Research

Safety & Security Resources | Office of Risk and Safety Services

Inclusive Queen's | Queen's University

Becoming a Postdoctoral Fellow | School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs

Accessibility Hub | Queen's University

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

Queen's University at Kingston

	Title / URL	Issues
	Getting Started: Faculty \| IT Serviceswww.queensu.ca/its/getting-started/faculty	59
	Student Affairs \| Queen's Universitywww.queensu.ca/studentaffairs/	36
	About \| IT Serviceswww.queensu.ca/its/about-us/about-us	35
	Getting Started: Staff \| IT Serviceswww.queensu.ca/its/getting-started/staff	33
	Research Centres and Institutes \| Vice-Principal Researchwww.queensu.ca/vpr/centres-and-institutes	32
	Safety & Security Resources \| Office of Risk and Safety Serviceswww.queensu.ca/risk/security/resources	28
	Inclusive Queen's \| Queen's Universitywww.queensu.ca/inclusive/	27
	Becoming a Postdoctoral Fellow \| School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairswww.queensu.ca/grad-postdoc/postdoc/fellow	27
	Accessibility Hub \| Queen's Universitywww.queensu.ca/accessibility/	22

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Queen's University at Kingston

Where this issue has occurred