Cookies settings - University of Birmingham

Colleges, Schools and Departments - University of Birmingham

News - University of Birmingham

International study - University of Birmingham

Contact the University of Birmingham - University of Birmingham

Information for applicants - University of Birmingham

Employer Relations - University of Birmingham

Events - University of Birmingham

Meet our students - University of Birmingham

News search - University of Birmingham

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 2024

May 2024

University of Birmingham

Title / URL	Issues
Cookies settings - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/privacy/cookies-settings	100
Colleges, Schools and Departments - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/colleges-schools-departments	99
News - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/news	52
International study - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/study/international	44
Contact the University of Birmingham - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/contact	42
Information for applicants - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/study/applicants	42
Employer Relations - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/partners/employers	42
Events - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/events	41
Meet our students - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/study/student-experience/meet-our-students	41
News search - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/news/search	40

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Birmingham

Where this issue has occurred