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Inline Notice Accessibility

Best Practices

Avoid having more than one high-priority notice visible at any time.

Avoid rendering high-priority inline notices on the server. For better discoverability, use a page notice instead. If you cannot use a page notice, then focus must be set on the inline notice.

Avoid using progress bars and spinners in conjunction with client-side notice.

Displaying a notice for a success or confirmation may not always be necessary. In the absence of an error message, a user can imply success (opinionated).

Interaction Design

Keyboard

Nested interactive elements (such as links) must be keyboard focusable.

A high-priority notice rendered on the server and visible on page load must receive focus. These cases should be rare; use a page notice when possible.

Screen Reader

Screen reader must not announce low-priority server-side notices.

Screen reader must announce client-side content changes to any type of notice.

Screen reader must announce client-side visibility change of a hidden notice.

If the notice is related to a control, the notice must be announced as the description of that control.

Pointer

Clicking or tapping a notice action activates its link or button.

ARIA Reference

AttributeDescription
role="region"Exposes the notice as a named landmark region. Use a label such as "Confirmation," "Information," or "Attention."
role="alert"Announces a high-priority notice rendered on the client. Nest the alert inside the landmark region.
aria-describedbyAssociates a notice with the control it describes.

Further Reading