Contact us - The University of Sydney

Our world university rankings - The University of Sydney

Research centres - The University of Sydney

Research areas - The University of Sydney

Alumni benefits - The University of Sydney

Get involved - The University of Sydney

Update your details - The University of Sydney

Current students - The University of Sydney

Study

International students

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

March 2025

February 2025

University of Sydney

Title / URL	Issues
Contact us - The University of Sydneywww.sydney.edu.au/contact-us.html	39
Our world university rankings - The University of Sydneywww.sydney.edu.au/about-us/our-world-rankings.html	39
Research centres - The University of Sydneywww.sydney.edu.au/research/our-research/centres.html	35
Research areas - The University of Sydneywww.sydney.edu.au/research/our-research/areas.html	28
Alumni benefits - The University of Sydneywww.sydney.edu.au/engage/alumni/benefits.html	28
Get involved - The University of Sydneywww.sydney.edu.au/engage/alumni/get-involved.html	28
Update your details - The University of Sydneywww.sydney.edu.au/engage/alumni/update-your-details.html	27
Current students - The University of Sydneywww.sydney.edu.au/students/	23
Studywww.sydney.edu.au/study.html	8
International studentswww.sydney.edu.au/study/international-students.html	7

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Sydney

Where this issue has occurred