Copyright | The George Washington University

Cost of a GW Education | The George Washington University

Campus Health | The George Washington University

Our Location | The George Washington University

Terms of Use | The George Washington University

GW Experience | The George Washington University

Mount Vernon Campus | The George Washington University

Arts & Culture | The George Washington University

Campus Life | The George Washington University

University Mission Statement | The George Washington 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

June 2025

May 2025

The George Washington University

Title / URL	Issues
Copyright \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/copyright	5
Cost of a GW Education \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/cost-gw-education	5
Campus Health \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/campus-health	5
Our Location \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/our-location	5
Terms of Use \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/terms-use	5
GW Experience \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/gw-experience	5
Mount Vernon Campus \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/mount-vernon-campus	5
Arts & Culture \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/arts-culture	5
Campus Life \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/campus-life	5
University Mission Statement \| The George Washington Universitywww.gwu.edu/university-mission-statement	4

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

The George Washington University

Where this issue has occurred