Expert Comment

A to Z of our postgraduate courses at Warwick

The Library - University of Warwick

Undergraduate courses at the University of Warwick

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Warwick Medical School - Postgraduate Education and Development

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 Warwick

Title / URL	Issues
Expert Commentwarwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/expertcomment/	100
A to Z of our postgraduate courses at Warwickwarwick.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/	100
The Library - University of Warwickwarwick.ac.uk/services/library/?location=more_links	100
Undergraduate courses at the University of Warwickwarwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/	100
All Alumni News Articleswarwick.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-news/all-news/	100
Academic and Campus Services, University of Warwickwarwick.ac.uk/services?location=more_links	99
Welcome to the University of Warwickwarwick.ac.uk/	99
Prospective Students Events Calendarwarwick.ac.uk/study/events/	91
Groups and networkswarwick.ac.uk/alumni/getinvolved/linkedin/	87
Warwick Medical School - Postgraduate Education and Developmentwarwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/study/cpd/	76

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of Warwick

Where this issue has occurred