Stay Connected | University of California, Riverside

Arts and Culture | University of California, Riverside

UC Riverside / University of California, Riverside

About UCR | University of California, Riverside

Current Students | University of California, Riverside

A-Z Listing | University of California, Riverside

Privacy Statement | University of California, Riverside

Leadership | University of California, Riverside

Academics | University of California, Riverside

Rankings and Facts | University of California, Riverside

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

July 2025

June 2025

University of California Riverside

	Title / URL	Issues
	Stay Connected \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/stay-connected	77
	Arts and Culture \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/campus-life/arts-and-culture	63
	UC Riverside / University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/	55
	About UCR \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/about-ucr	51
	Current Students \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/current-students	48
	A-Z Listing \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/alpha	47
	Privacy Statement \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/privacy.html	38
	Leadership \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/leadership	36
	Academics \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/academics	32
	Rankings and Facts \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/rankings	32

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of California Riverside

Where this issue has occurred