Counseling and Mental Health Center | University of Houston-Clear Lake

Faculty And Staff | University of Houston-Clear Lake

News and Events | University of Houston-Clear Lake

Parking and Transportation | University of Houston-Clear Lake

Alumni Events | University of Houston-Clear Lake

Maps and Directions | University of Houston-Clear Lake

E-Services | University of Houston-Clear Lake

UHCL at Pearland | University of Houston-Clear Lake

Alfred R. Neumann Library | University of Houston-Clear Lake

404 Error - Page Not Found | University of Houston-Clear Lake

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

June 2025

May 2025

University of Houston Clear Lake

Title / URL	Issues
Counseling and Mental Health Center \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/cmhc/	45
Faculty And Staff \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/faculty-staff/	45
News and Events \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/news-events/	45
Parking and Transportation \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/maps/parking/	45
Alumni Events \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/alumni/events/	45
Maps and Directions \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/maps/	45
E-Services \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/eservices/	45
UHCL at Pearland \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/pearland/	45
Alfred R. Neumann Library \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/library/	45
404 Error - Page Not Found \| University of Houston-Clear Lakewww.uhcl.edu/invented-url-for-404-page	45

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Houston Clear Lake

Where this issue has occurred