Protocol
Announce the result without stealing the user’s place
Finished should not be a message only sight can hear.
When it fits
- A background action changes status but assistive-technology users receive no useful signal.
When to avoid it
- Not every update deserves an alert. Repeated progress announcements can overwhelm the information they were meant to reveal.
Why it matters
Make relevant status information programmatically available without unnecessarily moving focus. Choose an announcement pattern appropriate to the urgency. Test with the actual assistive technology; adding a live region is an implementation choice, not proof of a good experience.
Steps
- Identify the result or progress change the user needs to know.
- Provide an appropriate status message rather than shifting focus to decorative feedback.
- Check that it is announced once, at a useful time, without interrupting every small change.
An example
After an upload, the interface announces Processing complete while the user remains in the field they were editing.
Check your result
Can the user tell what happened and continue the task without losing their place?
Keep this limit in mind
- Not every update deserves an alert. Repeated progress announcements can overwhelm the information they were meant to reveal.
Evidence and sources
Supports
WCAG 4.1.3 addresses status messages that assistive technology can present without receiving focus.
Not every interface change is a status message; excessive or urgent announcements can be disruptive.
Understanding Success Criterion 4.1.3: Status Messages · Success criterion and intent.