About Success Criterion 4.1.3: Status Messages
Status messages should be programmatically determinable through appropriate roles or properties, allowing assistive technologies to present the information to users without altering their current focus.
The purpose of this requirement is to effectively notify users of important content changes. It is essential to do so without disrupting the user’s existing focus within the interface. For example, when a pop-up appears on a mobile device, screen readers often shift focus to that pop-up, which can cause users to lose their current location on the page. In such cases, it is important that the screen reader announces the pop-up information without taking focus away from the main content.
An example of this is when interacting with the Pocket app: if a user selects the ‘Pocket’ option and saves it, there is a status message of ‘Saved’. This status message should be accessible to screen readers without shifting focus. However the status message takes focus incorrectly, and is also not announced by the screen reader.
| Article in Pocket with saving options | On saving the article |
|---|---|
 |  |
Resources
- Mobile Site and Native App Accessibility Testing Guidelines (look for Requirement 2.6: Status Messages in the Mobile Site Test Cases documents)
- Mobile Accessibility Testing Guidelines Webinar