Study with us | University of Tasmania

Interstate students | Study at the University of Tasmania

Where study meets sustainability | University of Tasmania

Online courses | University of Tasmania

Sydney campus | University of Tasmania

Postgraduate courses | University of Tasmania

First time visit: View without clicking anything

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

August 2025

July 2025

University of Tasmania

	Title / URL	Issues
	Study with us \| University of Tasmaniawww.utas.edu.au/study	65
	Interstate students \| Study at the University of Tasmaniawww.utas.edu.au/study/interstate	63
	Where study meets sustainability \| University of Tasmaniawww.utas.edu.au/study/sustainability	46
	Online courses \| University of Tasmaniawww.utas.edu.au/study/online	45
	Sydney campus \| University of Tasmaniawww.utas.edu.au/about/campuses/sydney	39
	Postgraduate courses \| University of Tasmaniawww.utas.edu.au/study/postgraduate	38
	First time visit: View without clicking anythingwww.utas.edu.au/	4

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Tasmania

Where this issue has occurred