Student Resources - Golden Eagles Live Wings Up

News

Research & Economic Development - Promoting Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities

Undergraduate Admissions - Apply

Undergraduate Admissions

Angelo & Jennette Volpe Library

Student Success Centers

Visit Tennessee Tech

Parking & Transportation

Tennessee Tech University Parents & Family

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

Tennessee Technological University

	Title / URL	Issues
	Student Resources - Golden Eagles Live Wings Upwww.tntech.edu/student/index.php	83
	Newswww.tntech.edu/news/index.php	70
	Research & Economic Development - Promoting Research, Scholarship and Creative Activitieswww.tntech.edu/research/	66
	Undergraduate Admissions - Applywww.tntech.edu/admissions/apply/	61
	Undergraduate Admissionswww.tntech.edu/admissions/	60
	Angelo & Jennette Volpe Librarywww.tntech.edu/library/index.php	55
	Student Success Centerswww.tntech.edu/ssc/index.php	55
	Visit Tennessee Techwww.tntech.edu/admissions/visit/	54
	Parking & Transportationwww.tntech.edu/parking/index.php	53
	Tennessee Tech University Parents & Familywww.tntech.edu/parents/	53

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Tennessee Technological University

Where this issue has occurred