WAI-ARIA: Role=Alertdialog

A type of dialog that contains an alert message, where initial focus goes to an element within the dialog.

Description

A type of dialog that contains an alert message, where initial focus goes to an element within the dialog. See related alert and dialog.

Alert dialogs are used to convey messages to alert the user. The alertdialog role goes on the node containing both the alert message and the rest of the dialog. Content authors SHOULD make alert dialogs modal by ensuring that, while the alertdialog is shown, keyboard and mouse interactions only operate within the dialog. See aria-modal.

Unlike alert, alertdialog can receive a response from the user. For example, to confirm that the user understands the alert being generated. When the alert dialog is displayed, authors SHOULD set focus to an active element within the alert dialog, such as a form edit field or an OK button. The user agent SHOULD fire a system alert event through the accessibility API when the alert is created, provided one is specified by the intended accessibility API.

Authors SHOULD use aria-describedby on an alertdialog to reference the alert message element in the dialog. If they do not, an assistive technology can resort to its internal recovery mechanism to determine the contents of the alert message.

Screen Reader Support For Role=AlertDialog

Expectation	JAWS			Narrator	NVDA			Orca	TalkBack	VoiceOver (iOS)	VoiceOver (macOS)
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Edge	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Safari
MUST NOT automatically switch away from reading mode	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported	supported

Role=AlertDialog Example

HTML Example

This example shows how a notification using role=”alertdialog” can be used to notify someone they have entered invalid information.

<div role="alertdialog" aria-labelledby="alertHeading" aria-describedby="alertText">
  <h1 id="alertHeading">Error</h1>
  <div id="alertText">
    Employee's Birth Date is after their hire date. Please verify the birth date and hire date.
  </div><button>Save and Continue</button> <button>Return to page and correct error</button>
</div>

HTML Example 2

<div role="alertdialog">
  <h1>Warning</h1>
  <div role="alert">
    Your session will expire in 60 seconds.
  </div>
</div>

Characterstics

Superclass Role

• alert
• dialog

Inherited States and Properties

• aria-atomic
• aria-busy (state)
• aria-controls
• aria-current (state)
• aria-describedby
• aria-details
• aria-disabled (state)
• aria-dropeffect
• aria-errormessage
• aria-expanded (state)
• aria-flowto
• aria-grabbed (state)
• aria-haspopup
• aria-hidden (state)
• aria-invalid (state)
• aria-keyshortcuts
• aria-label
• aria-labelledby
• aria-live
• aria-modal
• aria-owns
• aria-relevant
• aria-roledescription

Name From

• author

Accessible Name Required

• True

Semantic HTML

No HTML element equivalent.

Reference

• W3C (opens new window)
• A11Y Support