Fixes by subject · 35 techniques
How to Fix Time Limits and Moving Content
Time limits and moving content both take control away from the user. These techniques give it back.
Timeouts fall hardest on people who are already slower for reasons outside their control. A checkout window that feels generous with a mouse can be tight for somebody working through it on a switch device. Moving content is a separate problem with a separate audience. Carousels, tickers and auto-updating regions pull attention and can bring on dizziness or nausea in people with vestibular disorders, which is not the same user need as seizure safety even though the two get filed together. The techniques here cover extending and removing time limits, pausing motion, respecting the reduced-motion preference, and staying under the flash thresholds that can trigger seizures. One thing to check before writing a timeout off as unavoidable. The rule has three exceptions, for real-time activity, for limits that extending would invalidate, and for anything longer than twenty hours. Security is not one of them.
All 35 techniques
They run in technique order, and each one carries a tag. Sufficient techniques satisfy a rule. Advisory ones help without being required. Failures document a specific way of getting it wrong. None of them is mandatory, because W3C publishes techniques as documented ways of meeting a criterion rather than the only ways, so your own approach conforms as long as it meets the criterion.
- H76Sufficient3.2.5Make meta refresh redirects instant, never timed
- C39Sufficient2.3.3Respect the reduced-motion preference in CSS
- SCR1Sufficient2.2.1Let users extend a script's time limit
- SCR14Sufficient2.2.4, 4.1.3Let users switch nonessential alerts off
- SCR16Sufficient2.2.1Warn users before a time limit runs out
- SCR22Sufficient2.2.2Stop scripted blinking within five seconds
- SCR33Sufficient2.2.1, 2.2.2Give scrolling content a pause and a resume
- SCR36Sufficient2.2.1Offer a static view of moving text
- SCR40Sufficient2.3.3Check prefers-reduced-motion before animating
- F7Failure2.2.2Do not embed blinking content without a pause
- F12Failure2.2.5Do not let session timeouts destroy user input
- F16Failure2.2.2Do not auto-scroll content without a pause control
- F40Failure2.2.1, 2.2.4, 3.2.5Do not redirect with a timed meta refresh
- F41Failure2.2.1, 2.2.4, 3.2.5Do not auto-reload pages with meta refresh
- F50Failure2.2.2Do not script blinking that never stops
- F58Failure2.2.1Do not auto-redirect after a server-side timeout
- F61Failure3.2.5Do not auto-replace content users cannot stop
- F112Failure2.2.2Do not let content blink past five seconds
- G4Sufficient2.2.1, 2.2.2Let users pause moving content and resume it
- G5Sufficient2.2.3Remove time limits from activities entirely
- G11Sufficient2.2.2Stop any blinking within five seconds
- G15Sufficient2.3.1Test flashing content against seizure thresholds
- G19Sufficient2.3.1, 2.3.2Keep flashes to three per second maximum
- G75Sufficient2.2.4Let users postpone automatic content updates
- G76Sufficient2.2.4, 3.2.5Update content only when the user asks
- G105Sufficient2.2.5Save user data across session re-authentication
- G110Sufficient3.2.5Make client-side redirects instant, not timed
- G133Sufficient2.2.1Offer longer session limits before forms begin
- G152Sufficient2.2.2Stop animated GIFs blinking within five seconds
- G176Sufficient2.3.1Keep any flashing area below seizure thresholds
- G180Sufficient2.2.1Let users extend time limits tenfold
- G181Sufficient2.2.5Preserve form data across session re-login
- G186Sufficient2.2.2Add a stop control for moving content
- G191Sufficient2.2.2Offer a blink-free reload of the page
- G198Sufficient2.2.1Let users switch time limits off entirely
More on Timing and motion
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