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From: Hays, Terri
Date: Apr 22, 2019 11:16AM

Hi - I have a question regarding how to handle informational messages. We have multiple scenarios where an action is taken by a user and an informational message is loaded (the entire page reloads with the new message) or the user is directed to a new page where an informational message is displayed. These messages vary from notifying the user that their physical address is undeliverable to letting the user know their message was successfully sent.

In both instances the page reloads completely so I don't think it's a direct failure of WCAG 4.1.3, but we feel it is important to relay this information to the screen reader users. Since the page does a complete refresh, Aria role=status doesn't work and role=alert seems to be more geared to error messages. One idea we had was to force focus to the message so that the screen reader will read it immediately on page load, but this would cause the user to bypass the menu and the H1 (which could create an issue with WCAG 2.4.3 - focus order).

Thoughts? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.



Terri Hays
Accessibility Compliance Team (ACT)