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

A-Z Listing | University of California, Riverside

Current Students | University of California, Riverside

Privacy Statement | University of California, Riverside

Leadership | University of California, Riverside

Academics | University of California, Riverside

Centers and Facilities | 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

April 2025

March 2025

University of California Riverside

Title / URL	Issues
Stay Connected \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/stay-connected	78
Arts and Culture \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/campus-life/arts-and-culture	63
UC Riverside / University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/	56
About UCR \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/about-ucr	51
A-Z Listing \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/alpha	49
Current Students \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/current-students	44
Privacy Statement \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/privacy.html	38
Leadership \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/leadership	37
Academics \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/academics	33
Centers and Facilities \| University of California, Riversidewww.ucr.edu/research/centers	32

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of California Riverside

Where this issue has occurred