Status Message

No operable specimen yet; the illustration is editorial. A product must still verify that screen readers actually announce the message, how long it persists, keyboard reachability of the action button, and behavior under reduced motion.

{
  "states": [
    "hidden",
    "success",
    "info",
    "error"
  ],
  "a11y": [
    "Announce through a live region without moving focus",
    "Use status for general states and alert for errors needing immediate attention; avoid being too chatty"
  ],
  "motion": "The slide-in may be simplified to a fade; appear instantly when reduced motion is enabled"
}

{
  "id": "status-message",
  "type": "micro",
  "name": {
    "zh": "状态消息",
    "en": "Status Message"
  },
  "aliases": [
    "Toast",
    "Snackbar",
    "轻提示"
  ],
  "granularity": "state",
  "intents": [
    "inform",
    "reduce-interruption"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "feedback",
    "action outcome",
    "non-blocking",
    "notification",
    "toast"
  ],
  "definition": "A content change that briefly reports the result of an action, a waiting state, or the existence of errors without changing the user's context, and that assistive technology can announce without receiving focus.",
  "boundary": "A status message reports an outcome or state only. It does not carry continuously quantified progress (that is the determinate progress bar) and does not block the current task to demand a response (that is the modal dialog). Toast and snackbar are presentation variants of it, not separate concepts.",
  "signature": [
    "Appears right after the action, brief and tied to a specific object",
    "Does not cover content or take focus; the main content stays usable",
    "Carries a clear success, error, or informational meaning"
  ],
  "when": [
    "An action has completed or failed and people need a one-line confirmation",
    "The feedback does not require an immediate response or decision",
    "Content on the same page updates but the current task should not be interrupted"
  ],
  "when_not": [
    "An error must be handled before continuing, yet the message dismisses itself",
    "Quantified, ongoing progress needs to be reported",
    "People must make an irreversible decision"
  ],
  "tradeoff": "Non-blocking feedback keeps the task flowing, but briefly shown messages are easy to miss, and frequent announcements feel noisy to screen reader users.",
  "comparison": {
    "focus": "Telling people how the action they just took turned out",
    "mechanism": "A brief content change inside a live region",
    "cost": "Easy to miss; needs persistence and frequency control"
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "wcag22-status-messages",
      "title": "W3C · Understanding SC 4.1.3 Status Messages (WCAG 2.2)",
      "url": "https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/status-messages.html",
      "claim": "The Level AA criterion requires that status messages be programmatically determinable through role or properties so assistive technology can present them without receiving focus; a status message is defined as a non-context change reporting the success or result of an action, a waiting state, progress, or the existence of errors.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-15",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260915*/https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/status-messages.html",
        "status": "pending",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-15T18:35:44.910Z",
        "error": "status-request-failed",
        "jobId": "spn2-2f1c0e8f56c74acc0181032b2c86b53260ff4025"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "apg-alert",
      "title": "W3C · ARIA Authoring Practices Guide · Alert Pattern",
      "url": "https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/alert/",
      "claim": "An alert displays a brief, important message without interrupting the task and must not affect keyboard focus; alerts that disappear automatically and overly frequent interruptions should be avoided.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-15",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260915*/https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/alert/",
        "status": "pending",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-15T18:36:00.855Z",
        "error": "status-request-failed",
        "jobId": "spn2-b5545afc78a86863c008b6e5d498847f905a438a"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "nng-indicators-validations-notifications",
      "title": "NN/g · Indicators, Validations, and Notifications",
      "url": "https://www.nngroup.com/articles/indicators-validations-notifications/",
      "claim": "Distinguishes action-required messages from passive ones: the former should interrupt and require handling before dismissal, while the latter suit an unobtrusive nonmodal popover that may disappear automatically.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-15",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260915*/https://www.nngroup.com/articles/indicators-validations-notifications/",
        "status": "pending",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-15T18:36:07.048Z",
        "error": "status-request-failed",
        "jobId": "spn2-271c1c4765ed6d069b4967ea3c07dd0586e6ede2"
      }
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "target": "determinate-progress",
      "kind": "related",
      "condition": "A task has a start, a middle, and an end",
      "reason": "The progress bar expresses completed work during the process; the status message reports the final outcome.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "modal-dialog",
      "kind": "alternative",
      "condition": "Whether the feedback needs a response first",
      "reason": "Use a non-blocking status message when no response is needed; escalate to a modal dialog only when a decision or confirmation is required.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "calm-technology",
      "kind": "realized_by",
      "condition": "Feedback stays brief and does not seize attention",
      "reason": "A status message keeps information at the periphery of attention, one way calm technology is realized at the micro-interaction level.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "rules": [
    {
      "when": "The status message is implemented in a markup language",
      "instruction": "Announce it through a live region such as role=status, role=alert, or aria-live, and never move focus.",
      "strength": "must",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "when": "An error must be handled before people can continue",
      "instruction": "The message must persist until it is handled; it must not dismiss itself.",
      "strength": "must",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "when": "Writing the message text",
      "instruction": "Name the specific action and object; avoid generic wording such as \"Success\" or \"Something went wrong\".",
      "strength": "recommend",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "requirements": [],
  "behavior": {
    "states": [
      "hidden",
      "success",
      "info",
      "error"
    ],
    "a11y": [
      "Announce through a live region without moving focus",
      "Use status for general states and alert for errors needing immediate attention; avoid being too chatty"
    ],
    "motion": "The slide-in may be simplified to a fade; appear instantly when reduced motion is enabled"
  },
  "demo": null,
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "editorialStatus": "drafted",
  "demoCapabilities": [],
  "implementationNote": "No operable specimen yet; the illustration is editorial. A product must still verify that screen readers actually announce the message, how long it persists, keyboard reachability of the action button, and behavior under reduced motion.",
  "image": {
    "src": "/images/status-message.webp",
    "alt": "A small dark bar slides up from the bottom of a fictional FIELDNOTES page: a green check icon on the left, a short text bar in the middle, and a small button on the right, while the card grid above stays uncovered and unchanged."
  },
  "searchTerms": [
    "反馈",
    "操作结果",
    "非阻断",
    "通知",
    "toast"
  ]
}