Status messages which change without a page reload notify users of assistive technologies without requiring the user to send focus to the message.
| WCAG 2 criterion | 4.1.3 Status Messages (AA) |
|---|---|
| Category | Motion |
WCAG 2 criterion
4.1.3 Status Messages (Level AA)
Tools and requirements
- Screen Reader
- Manual Assessment
Test procedure
A status message is any bit of information which informs the user about a state change on the page that does not require a page refresh.
A popular example is a results page for a search if filters are applied. If a message saying "1234 results found" automatically updated without refreshing the entire page (i.e. it was implemented with AJAX), then that sort of status message would apply to this criterion.
The expected behavior is that when one of these messages appears or changes, a screen reader user and other assistive technology users must be immediately notified of the change. It could be as disruptive as a Javascript alert, but more commonly, aria-live is utilized to immediately announce the change to the user.
When using a screen reader, if you come across any sort of status message, interact with the functionality on the page to change that status message, and verify that when the message changes, the screen reader immediately reads out the change to the user, regardless of where the user is on the page.