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Re: Status message that disappears in seconds

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From: Don Mauck
Date: Dec 15, 2022 1:09PM

This is a big reason we don't use toast messages at Oracle accept for very simple submission complete and the like.
Any message that needs a reaction, has important data such as a special number or error messages with links should never be a toast message.

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of glen walker
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2022 1:03 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] [EXTERNAL] Status message that disappears in seconds

Toast messages can be a challenge to make accessible. Note that SC 2.2.1 contains a "note", which makes that note normative. It says "This success criterion helps ensure that users can complete tasks without unexpected changes in content or context that are a result of a time limit."

So to play devil's advocate, does not being able to access the message about an item being added to the cart prevent the user from completing the task? I'm not sure it does. That doesn't mean I'm advocating for this type of behavior but I could see an argument that this does not fail 2.2.1.

Having a link in the toast message to take you to the shopping cart is a convenience but as noted earlier, there are (hopefully) other ways to access the cart.

Seeing a message that an item was added to the cart is a nice confirmation but some users will also notice the cart icon/badge, which typically includes the number of items in the cart, will increase.

So the toast message isn't the only way to access the cart or to confirm an item was added.

But again, I'm not saying this issue shouldn't be addressed, even if one believes it doesn't fail 2.2.1.

There are various things you can do to fix this:
* Don't close the toast message automatically. Give it an x-close button in the corner. (I suppose that would make it *not* a toast message since toast messages typically disappear automatically, which is kind of the crux of the problem.)
* Allow the user to control the timing of the toast message

As a side note, when the toast message appears, it should be announced, otherwise you'd have a 4.1.3 issue. If the badge on the cart icon also increases, it'd be nice to include that in the toast announcement, so you might say something like, "Item added to the cart, 12 items in the cart."