Skills | University of Salford

Library | University of Salford

Book a Library Space | University of Salford

ORCID | University of Salford

Support for academic staff | University of Salford

Careers | University of Salford

Brass Band News

USIR - University of Salford Institutional Repository | University of Salford

Community | University of Salford

Our Facilities | University of Salford

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 Salford Manchester

Title / URL	Issues
Skills \| University of Salfordwww.salford.ac.uk/skills	8
Library \| University of Salfordwww.salford.ac.uk/library	7
Book a Library Space \| University of Salfordwww.salford.ac.uk/library/know-how/book-a-library-space	6
ORCID \| University of Salfordwww.salford.ac.uk/library/open-research/orcid	6
Support for academic staff \| University of Salfordwww.salford.ac.uk/library/help-and-support/support-for-academic-staff	6
Careers \| University of Salfordwww.salford.ac.uk/careers	6
Brass Band Newswww.salford.ac.uk/library/archives-and-special-collections/salford-digital-archives/about-brass-band-news	6
USIR - University of Salford Institutional Repository \| University of Salfordwww.salford.ac.uk/library/open-research/usir-university-of-salford-institutional-repository	6
Community \| University of Salfordwww.salford.ac.uk/giving/community	6
Our Facilities \| University of Salfordwww.salford.ac.uk/our-facilities	6

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Salford Manchester

Where this issue has occurred