Campuses, research sites and facilities | UNBC

Services | UNBC

Faculty and staff | UNBC

Contact UNBC | UNBC

UNBC Events | UNBC

UNBC Awards and Financial Aid | UNBC

Library Home | UNBC

Future students | UNBC

Leading a Sustainable Future | UNBC

International | UNBC

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

May 2025

April 2025

University of Northern British Columbia

Title / URL	Issues
Campuses, research sites and facilities \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/about-unbc/campus-location-details	77
Services \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/services	71
Faculty and staff \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/faculty-staff	51
Contact UNBC \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/about-unbc/contact	49
UNBC Events \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/events	45
UNBC Awards and Financial Aid \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/financial-aid	45
Library Home \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/library	45
Future students \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/future-students	38
Leading a Sustainable Future \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/sustainability	37
International \| UNBCwww.unbc.ca/international	33

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Northern British Columbia

Where this issue has occurred