Alumni news and events - University of Birmingham

Undergraduate study - University of Birmingham

Postgraduate study or research - University of Birmingham

Family Community

News search - University of Birmingham

Sally Brooks - Deputy Director of Operations - University of Birmingham

Alex Ferranti - Race Equality Network Co-Chair - University of Birmingham

Discover Birmingham - University of Birmingham

Graduate Training Scheme - University of Birmingham

The Exchange - Events. Exhibition. Cafe. - 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

January 2025

December 2024

University of Birmingham

Title / URL	Issues
Alumni news and events - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/alumni/news/index.aspx	99
Undergraduate study - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/study/undergraduate	34
Postgraduate study or research - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgraduate	33
Family Communitywww.birmingham.ac.uk/alumni/family/index.aspx	28
News search - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/news/all-news	27
Sally Brooks - Deputy Director of Operations - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/jobs/sally-brooks	27
Alex Ferranti - Race Equality Network Co-Chair - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/jobs/alex-ferranti	27
Discover Birmingham - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/university/index.aspx	25
Graduate Training Scheme - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/jobs/graduate-training-scheme	24
The Exchange - Events. Exhibition. Cafe. - University of Birminghamwww.birmingham.ac.uk/the-exchange	24

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Birmingham

Where this issue has occurred