Offer a blink-free reload of the page
G191 gives the reader a way to reload the current page with its blinking content stopped. It is WCAG's conforming alternate version idea applied to one rule, so the reloaded page has to carry all the same information and functionality as the original. W3C allows one shortcut. The blinking content may be removed altogether, but only where it was redundant with non-blinking content already on the page, so a badge duplicating text elsewhere can go and a badge carrying its own message cannot. This is a sufficient technique for 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide at Level A. W3C's example puts the link at the very top of the page. That is the example rather than a stated requirement, and it is still where the link should go.
How we find it in an audit
Our reviewers find the blinking first, then look for the mechanism, then use it. The reloaded page gets compared against the original. Missing links, missing offers, missing controls. Where blinking content has been dropped rather than stilled, we check whether the same information is genuinely available elsewhere on the page.
How affected users experience it
Blinking is an attention tax nobody using the page can opt out of. For readers with attention-related disabilities it makes the surrounding text unreadable. For people with vestibular disorders it can bring on nausea. A reload that stills the page lets them do what they came for, and it only helps if the still version is the same page rather than a reduced one.
Passes vs. fails
Passes
The first link on the page reads 'View this page without blinking content', leading to the same deals and the same links with the badges rendered static.
Fails
A promotions page with three blinking 'HOT DEAL' badges that never stop, and no way to view the page without them.
How this gets tested
The W3C publishes test rules that define what a checker looks for here.
- Text content that changes automatically can be paused, stopped or hiddenSomeone has to look
Other ways to satisfy this rule
11 guides on this site are filed under 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide. W3C lists this one as sufficient for that rule on its own. Implement it correctly, in a way your readers' software actually supports, and the rule is met.
- G4sufficientLet users pause moving content and resume it
- G11sufficientStop any blinking within five seconds
- G152sufficientStop animated GIFs blinking within five seconds
- G186sufficientAdd a stop control for moving content
- SCR22sufficientStop scripted blinking within five seconds
- SCR33sufficientGive scrolling content a pause and a resume
This guide is our interpretation of W3C technique G191: Providing a link, button, or other mechanism that reloads the page without any blinking content. W3C publishes its techniques as guidance rather than as the standard, and says so on every one of them. The success criterion is what conformance is measured against, and a technique is one documented way to meet it.