News | University of Cambridge

Spotlight on... | University of Cambridge

The Cambridge view on memory | University of Cambridge

University A-Z | University of Cambridge

Horizons magazine | University of Cambridge

Our people | Page 2 | University of Cambridge

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 Cambridge

	Title / URL	Issues
	News \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/news	100
	Spotlight on... \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/research/spotlights-on	100
	News \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/news?ucam-ref=home-news	100
	The Cambridge view on memory \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/research/news/the-cambridge-view-on-memory	100
	News \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/news?ucam-ref=global-header	100
	Spotlight on... \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/research/spotlights-on?ucam-ref=global-footer	100
	News \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/news?ucam-ref=home-menu	100
	University A-Z \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/university-a-z?ucam-ref=global-footer	100
	Horizons magazine \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/research/research-at-cambridge/horizons-magazine	93
	Our people \| Page 2 \| University of Cambridgewww.cam.ac.uk/research/our-people?page=1	86

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Cambridge

Where this issue has occurred