News | Press Office | University of Chester

University of Chester Press | University of Chester

Outreach | University of Chester

About the University | University of Chester

Job Vacancies | University of Chester

DBS Checks FAQs | Legal | University of Chester

Why Chester | International Centre | University of Chester

#MyChesterStory | University of Chester

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 Chester

Title / URL	Issues
News \| Press Office \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/news?f%5B0%5D=created%3A2018	26
News \| Press Office \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/news?f%5B%5D=field_tags%3A594	26
University of Chester Press \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/university-press	26
Outreach \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/departments/outreach	26
News \| Press Office \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/news	26
About the University \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/about-university	26
Job Vacancies \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/jobs	26
DBS Checks FAQs \| Legal \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/dbs/faqs	26
Why Chester \| International Centre \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/international/why-chester	26
#MyChesterStory \| University of Chesterwww1.chester.ac.uk/mychesterstory	26

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Chester

Where this issue has occurred