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SIS | Speech by SIS Chief Sir Richard Moore: The Human Factor

SIS | Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III

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

November 2024

October 2024

Secret Intelligence Service

Title / URL	Issues
SIS \| Homewww.sis.gov.uk/index.html	7
SIS \| Apply Nowwww.sis.gov.uk/apply-now.html	7
SIS \| SIS in the Stonewall UK Workplace Equality Index 2020www.sis.gov.uk/sis-in-the-stonewall-uk-workplace-equality-index-2020.html	7
SIS \| Social Mobility Foundation Employer Index 2021www.sis.gov.uk/social-mobility-foundation-employer-index-2021.html	7
SIS \| Newswww.sis.gov.uk/news.html	7
SIS \| Homewww.sis.gov.uk/	7
SIS \| Cookie Policywww.sis.gov.uk/cookie-policy.html	7
SIS – Our Historywww.sis.gov.uk/our-history.html	7
SIS \| Speech by SIS Chief Sir Richard Moore: The Human Factorwww.sis.gov.uk/speech-by-sis-chief-sir-richard-moore-the-human-factor.html	7
SIS \| Coronation of His Majesty King Charles IIIwww.sis.gov.uk/coronation-of-his-majesty-king-charles-iii.html	7

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Secret Intelligence Service

Where this issue has occurred