Level AA · WCAG 2.1
4.1.3 Status Messages
Status messages are announced without moving focus — “added to basket”, “3 results”, “saving failed”.
Partly automated Some failures are detectable, others need judgement.
How it fails in practice
A cart counter that silently increments. A form that shows “Saved” for two seconds and never tells a screen-reader user anything.
How to fix it
Put the message in a live region that exists in the DOM before the message does. Injecting the region and the text at the same moment is the usual reason nothing gets announced.
At a glance
- Level
- Level AA — the level EN 301 549 requires, and therefore the level the BFSG and the EAA are measured against.
- Principle
- Robust
- Guideline
- 4.1 Compatible
- Added in
- WCAG 2.1
- EN 301 549
- 9.4.1.3
- Automated check
- Partly automated
Partly automated
How far an automated check gets
A tool finds some failures here and cannot see the rest. A clean automated result means the checks that exist found nothing — not that the criterion is met. This is the gap that makes a green scan look like an accessible site, and it is where the keyboard agent, the agents still in development and a human reviewer do the remaining work.
Where it matters most
The guides that list it among the criteria to check first.
- BFSG for online shops
- BFSG for banking and financial services
- BFSG for ticketing and passenger transport
- BFSG for telecommunications services
- Shopware accessibility and the BFSG
Related criteria
Other criteria under the same guideline.
Further reading
-
Live region
An area with aria-live or a suitable role whose changes screen readers announce without moving focus (WCAG 4.1.3).
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