Understanding SC 2.4.12:Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) (Level AA)

Intent

For sighted people with mobility impairments who use a keyboard-like device (e.g., a switch, voice input), knowing the current point of focus is very important. When progressing through a page other content can hide the focused element.

Where other content can overlap with a focused item, the focused element should not be hidden. Typical types of content that can overlap focused items are sticky footers, sticky headers, or non-modal dialogues. As a user tabs through the page, these layers of content can obscure the focused item, including the focus indicator. If the interface is configurable so that the user can move toolbars and non-modal dialogs around, then only the initial positions of user-movable content would be considered for testing and conformance of this success criterion.

Benefits

• This Success Criterion helps anyone who relies on the keyboard to operate the page by letting them visually determine the component on which keyboard operations will interact at any point in time.
• People with attention limitations, short term memory limitations, or limitations in executive processes benefit by being able to discover where the focus is located.

Examples

• A page has a sticky footer (attached to the bottom of the vieport). When tabbing down the page the focused item is not hidden by the footer.

Techniques

Each numbered item in this section represents a technique or combination of techniques that the WCAG Working Group deems sufficient for meeting this Success Criterion. However, it is not necessary to use these particular techniques. For information on using other techniques, see Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria, particularly the "Other Techniques" section.