WJ News & Insights - Page 3 of 20 - Wilson James

WJ News & Insights - Page 2 of 20 - Wilson James

WJ News & Insights - Page 5 of 20 - Wilson James

WJ News & Insights - Page 4 of 20 - Wilson James

Press Archive - Wilson James

WJ News & Insights - Wilson James

WJ News & Insights - Page 7 of 20 - Wilson James

Modern Slavery Statement 2024 - Wilson James

Terms and conditions - Wilson James

Health, Safety & Wellbeing at Wilson James - Wilson James

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

Wilson James

	Title / URL	Issues
	WJ News & Insights - Page 3 of 20 - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/news/page/3	45
	WJ News & Insights - Page 2 of 20 - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/news/page/2	45
	WJ News & Insights - Page 5 of 20 - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/news/page/5	43
	WJ News & Insights - Page 4 of 20 - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/news/page/4	43
	Press Archive - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/press	42
	WJ News & Insights - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/news	42
	WJ News & Insights - Page 7 of 20 - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/news/page/7	36
	Modern Slavery Statement 2024 - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/modern-slavery-statement-2024	26
	Terms and conditions - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/terms-and-conditions	22
	Health, Safety & Wellbeing at Wilson James - Wilson Jameswilsonjames.co.uk/time-for-safety	6

Ensure focus is not fully obscured

Wilson James

Where this issue has occurred