First time visit: View without clicking anything

1–4 Malet Place: Arts and Sciences BASc | UCL Maps

21 Gordon Square | UCL Maps

Drayton House | UCL Maps

26 Gordon Square | UCL Maps

South Wing | UCL Maps

Main Library | UCL Maps

Roberts Building | UCL Maps

Medawar Building | UCL Maps

Medical Sciences | UCL Maps

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

University College London

	Title / URL	Issues
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.ucl.ac.uk/	7
	1–4 Malet Place: Arts and Sciences BASc \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/1-4-malet-place	2
	21 Gordon Square \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/21-gordon-square	2
	Drayton House \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/drayton-house	2
	26 Gordon Square \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/26-gordon-square	2
	South Wing \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/south-wing	2
	Main Library \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/main-library	2
	Roberts Building \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/roberts-building	2
	Medawar Building \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/medawar	2
	Medical Sciences \| UCL Mapswww.ucl.ac.uk/maps/medical-sciences	2

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University College London

Where this issue has occurred