Browse databases A-Z - Browse databases | UWE Bristol

Cookie policy - Website | UWE Bristol

Printing - IT Services | UWE Bristol

Privacy policy - Website | UWE Bristol

Library - Study | UWE Bristol

UWE Bristol students | UWE Bristol

IT Services - Study | UWE Bristol

Final year checklist - Study | UWE Bristol

Accommodation - Life | UWE Bristol

Digital accessibility - Website | UWE Bristol

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

April 2025

March 2025

University of the West of England

Title / URL	Issues
Browse databases A-Z - Browse databases \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/study/library/databases/a-z	100
Cookie policy - Website \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/about/website/cookies	100
Printing - IT Services \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/study/it-services/printing	80
Privacy policy - Website \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/about/website/privacy	78
Library - Study \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/study/library	75
UWE Bristol students \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/students	72
IT Services - Study \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/study/it-services	68
Final year checklist - Study \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/study/final-year	63
Accommodation - Life \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/life/accommodation	62
Digital accessibility - Website \| UWE Bristolwww.uwe.ac.uk/about/website/accessibility	61

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of the West of England

Where this issue has occurred