Web Accessibility Perspectives: Notifications and Feedback

Introduction

Web accessibility is essential for people with disabilities and useful for all. Learn about the impact of accessibility and the benefits for everyone in a variety of situations.

Video on Notifications and Feedback

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What is "Notifications and Feedback"?

Users need to know what is going on, and get appropriate feedback during interaction. For example, users need confirmation messages when actions are completed, such as when forms are submitted. Also, error messages must provide clear directions rather than confuse users.

Who depends on this feature?

• People with some cognitive and learning disabilities, who may be easily confused by unexpected behavior and unclear error messages.
• People with partial sight and blindness, who rely on notifications, instructions, and errors messages to understand the context and interactions.

What are the additional benefits?

• Content is more usable for people who are new to the particular website or application.
• Content is more usable for people who are not confident using computers and the web.
• Content is less confusing and daunting to everyone, regardless of skills.

What needs to happen for this to work?

Use clear and simple language to make error messages more understandable. For example, describe how to fix an error. When forms are submitted, provide a confirmation message. When a change is made on the screen, such as new content added, alert users to the change.

Learn more

• Accessibility Principle:
  • Content appears and operates in predictable ways
  • Users are helped to avoid and correct mistakes
• Getting Started:
  • Provide clear instructions
  • Help users avoid and correct mistakes
• Easy Check:
  • Forms, labels, and errors (including Search fields)
• User Story:
  • Ms. Olsen, Classroom student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia
  • Mr. Yunus, Retiree with low vision, hand tremor, and mild short-term memory loss
  • Mr. Sands, Supermarket assistant with Down syndrome
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG Overview):
  • Success Criteria relating to "errors"
• Tutorial:
  • Forms - Web Accessibility Tutorials

Perspectives Videos

• Keyboard Compatibility
• Colors with Good Contrast
• Clear Layout and Design
• Text to Speech
• Large Links, Buttons, and Controls
• Video Captions
• Customizable Text
• Voice Recognition
• Understandable Content
• Notifications and Feedback