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Re: Status Messages

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From: Jim Homme
Date: Apr 23, 2019 7:24AM

Hi Terry,
I'm sure this is not normal UX practice, but if it were me, I would do it this way, since it sounds like you are trying to ensure that nobody misses a message. I would make it so that all messages load in a short page that shows the message and instructions about how to get back to the page where they came from. I'd probably load the new page in its own tab. I'd also investigate controlling focus, in case that is necessary. Without having tested the idea, though, PC screen readers should stay where the user parked them. VoiceOver on Mac will try to find the nearest focusable item.

I hope I'm understanding what you are saying correctly.



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Jim Homme
Digital Accessibility
Bender Consulting Services
412-787-8567
https://www.benderconsult.com/our%20services/hightest-accessible-technology-solutions

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Hays, Terri
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2019 1:17 PM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Status Messages

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)