Working at York - Staff home, University of York

News - Staff home, University of York

Policies and strategies - Staff home, University of York

If things go wrong - Student home, University of York

Student home - Student home, University of York

External relations - Staff home, University of York

Staff home - Staff home, University of York

Student news - Student home, University of York

Research - Staff home, University of York

Centre for Lifelong Learning - Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of York

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

June 2025

May 2025

University of York

	Title / URL	Issues
	Working at York - Staff home, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/staff/working/	10
	News - Staff home, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/staff/news/	10
	Policies and strategies - Staff home, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/staff/policies/	10
	If things go wrong - Student home, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/students/help/	10
	Student home - Student home, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/students/	10
	External relations - Staff home, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/staff/external-relations/	10
	Staff home - Staff home, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/staff/	10
	Student news - Student home, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/students/news/	10
	Research - Staff home, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/staff/research/	10
	Centre for Lifelong Learning - Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Yorkwww.york.ac.uk/lifelonglearning/	4

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

University of York

Where this issue has occurred