WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Error message summaries, alerts and focus

for

From: Steve Green
Date: Aug 7, 2023 9:57AM

The GOV.UK Design System philosophy is that JavaScript will not be used unless it is unavoidable (such as in an accordion) or at least improves the user experience.

https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/validation/#client-side-and-server-side-validation says “Only add client side validation if you find a user need for it.”

However, within the gov.uk website you will find all sorts of different coding techniques because the website has been built by many different development teams over many years. You therefore can't use the website as an oracle.

The design pattern at https://design-system.service.gov.uk/components/error-message/ does not use client-side validation and assumes the page will reload after an error.

From a user experience perspective I agree with Patrick's advice to either use a live region or move the focus, but not both, when doing client-side validation. However, are we sure this conforms with WCAG SC 4.1.3? The error message cannot be "programmatically determined through role or properties" in the absence of a live region. Or does SC 4.1.3 not apply since the focus is being moved to the error message?

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd