Make meta refresh redirects instant, never timed
A meta refresh redirect passes only with a delay of exactly zero. W3C attaches H76 to one criterion, 3.2.5 Change on Request, which is Level AAA, and lists it as sufficient there in combination with the general technique for an instant client-side redirect. Zero matters for two reasons and most write-ups give only the first. A zero delay means there is no time limit for anybody to run out of, and it also means the old page is never shown before the new one loads. Any positive number is a countdown nobody can pause or extend. Two rules ride along with it. Where you control the server a 301 is the better redirect, and the redirecting page itself should carry nothing except the redirect.
How we find it in an audit
This is one of the few checks that is mechanical from end to end. A crawler finds every meta refresh tag and reads the delay, and the content attribute has to be a zero followed by the target URL. We also watch for the near relative, a page set to refresh itself on a timer, which fails for exactly the same reason.
How affected users experience it
Reading a page with a screen reader takes longer than skimming one, and a five second refresh waits for nobody. The page disappears mid-sentence and a new one starts announcing from the top, with nothing to say what happened. Readers with cognitive disabilities lose the thread the same way. A zero delay leaves nothing to interrupt, which is the whole reason the technique insists on it.
Passes vs. fails
Passes
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=https://example.com/new">Fails
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5;url=https://example.com/new">How this gets tested
The W3C publishes test rules that define what a checker looks for here.
- Meta element has no refresh delayA tool can check this
- Meta element has no refresh delay (no exception)A tool can check this
Other ways to satisfy this rule
16 guides on this site are filed under 3.2.5 Change on Request. W3C lists this one as sufficient for that rule only alongside G110, so the pair is what passes and neither half does on its own.
- G76sufficientUpdate content only when the user asks
- G110sufficientMake client-side redirects instant, not timed
- H83sufficientWarn users when links open new windows
- SCR19sufficientNever change context when a select changes
- SCR24sufficientOpen new windows only when the user asks
- SVR1sufficientRedirect on the server, not with a timed refresh
This guide is our interpretation of W3C technique H76: Using meta refresh to create an instant client-side redirect. 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.