The web is now more dynamic than ever, with visual cues and notifications serving as crucial tools for communicating updates and content changes. Yet, making these notifications accessible poses a nightmarish set of challenges. How can we ensure that individuals using assistive technologies can understand this information, from error alerts in forms to disappearing notifications and zero search results?

This talk will explore ARIA live regions and their role in communicating dynamic content to assistive technologies. We will listen to how screen readers understand, or sometimes don’t understand, live region updates. We’ll explore the rules and recommended methods for incorporating live regions to create more inclusive notifications. Ultimately, we’ll find ways to replace live regions all together with more persistent and robust UI patterns.

Technical Requirements:
This talk uses pre-recorded videos using screen readers. Audio support for these demos will be required.

Target Audience:
The target audience for this talk is frontend developers of all levels. To a lesser degree, designers as well can benefit and connect with points within this talk.

This talk is suitable for either lightning or full-length formats.