WAI-ARIA APG: Alert and Message Dialogs Pattern
Defines alert dialogs as modal interruptions for important messages that require a response, including role, modality, labelling, description, and keyboard dependency on modal dialog behavior.
What this source can teach
Use this source to check a technical or accessibility requirement against its exact wording and scope.
- Start with the original. Open the source and find the guidance or example relevant to your task.
- Trace the connection. Use the claim notes below to see how this site applies the source to specific patterns.
- Check the setting. Compare the source's platform, people, and constraints with your own decision.
Pattern Decisions This Source Supports
| Pattern | Supported decision | Required contract | Claim note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alert dialog | Choose an alert dialog when an important message interrupts the current workflow and requires an immediate user response. | The alert dialog appears only for a condition that genuinely requires a response before continuation. | APG defines alert dialogs as modal interruptions for important messages that require a user response. |
| Ambiguous destructive action copy | Flag this anti-pattern when the destructive or safe action label does not name what will happen. | Every destructive control label must answer what action will happen and what object or scope it affects. | APG alertdialog guidance supports accessible naming and description for important modal decisions. |
| Confirmation dialog | Choose confirmation when the action has a clear reason not to proceed and the user may change their mind after seeing the consequence. | The confirmation appears only after a user-initiated action, not as surprise interruption unrelated to the current command. | APG defines alert dialogs as modal interruptions for important messages that require a response. |
| Confirmation fatigue | Flag this anti-pattern when low-risk, reversible, or high-frequency actions repeatedly open modal confirmations. | Each confirmation must have a documented risk, consequence, and reason it is better than undo, prevention, warning text, review, or clearer command placement. | APG alertdialog semantics support reserving modal interruptions for important decisions that require a response. |
| Destructive action confirmation | Choose destructive action confirmation when a destructive command needs a final commit review before permanent or externally visible loss. | The confirmation appears only after a user-initiated destructive command. | APG supplies alertdialog semantics for important modal decisions requiring a response. |
| Typed confirmation | Choose typed confirmation when exact target reproduction materially lowers the risk of deleting or resetting the wrong object. | The required phrase is visible in the same confirmation surface as the input field. | APG supplies alertdialog semantics for important modal decisions requiring a user response. |
| Unsaved changes prompt | Choose unsaved changes prompt when a user action inside the product would abandon or replace dirty local edits before they are saved. | Opening the prompt never clears the dirty values. | APG alertdialog guidance covers modal interruptions that require a response. |
Comparisons supported by this source
- Alert dialog vs alert vs modal dialog vs confirmation dialog
APG defines alert dialogs as modal interruptions for important messages that require a response.
- Confirmation fatigue vs confirmation dialog vs destructive action confirmation vs undo vs warning text vs dangerous-action review
APG supplies modal alertdialog semantics for important decisions that genuinely require a response.
- Destructive action confirmation vs confirmation dialog vs undo vs warning text
APG defines alert dialogs as modal interruptions for important messages requiring a user response.
- Icon-only ambiguous action vs confirmation dialog vs undo
WAI-ARIA APG alert dialog guidance supports consequence review for urgent confirmation flows after intent is clear.
- Typed confirmation vs destructive action confirmation vs confirmation dialog vs password input
APG supplies alertdialog semantics for important modal decisions requiring a user response.
- Undo vs confirmation dialog
APG identifies alert dialogs as modal interruptions that communicate important messages and acquire a response.
- Unsaved changes prompt vs exit warning vs autosave form vs confirmation dialog
APG alertdialog guidance covers modal decisions that interrupt a task and require a response.
Evidence Role
This source is treated as spec evidence. Its value comes from the specific claims and setting described above.
Publisher: W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. Last checked: .