Title: Validation error notification?
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# Validation error notification?

 *  [luckster99](https://wordpress.org/support/users/luckster99/)
 * (@luckster99)
 * [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/validation-error-notification/)
 * Hi – I’m excited to see this plugin as we had to reject gravity forms after really
   liking it because of accessibility issues. However, the prime reason we rejected
   it was that it gave no real alert to a screen reader if required form fields 
   or other validation errors prevented a successful submission. The error text 
   was there if the person scrolled back up the page but why would they? Our accessibility
   tester, at first, didn’t even catch the problem because he thought the form submitted
   successfully.
 * I don’t really see anything in your description that addresses this issue but
   wanted to make sure.
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/gravity-forms-wcag-20-form-fields/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/gravity-forms-wcag-20-form-fields/)

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  Plugin Author [ovann86](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ovann86/)
 * (@ovann86)
 * [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/validation-error-notification/#post-5787488)
 * Hi luckster99,
 * It’s good to hear from another person that takes accessibility seriously.
 * I’m currently preparing a online forms system (application forms) that’s built
   around Gravity Forms and wrote this plugin as a way to get around the WCAG errors
   that the automated checks found.
 * So far it only focuses on a handful of fields, but I’m certain other fields that
   I haven’t needed to use have issues as well.
 * What you’ve raised is a very valid issue – it’s also a good example of where 
   the automated accessibility checkers can’t say if it’s good accessibility or 
   not. It’s also a great way to improve usability for all users.
 * I’m keen to know the specifics you found that were a problem with the validation
   so I can start working on a solution. Are you able to detail the issue – was 
   it that the screen reader couldn’t access parts of the validation messages, or
   that it was hidden amongst the page content which screen reader users would typically
   not see when using forms (that is, the normal usage for a screen reader user 
   would be to jump from one field to another – skipping past the text outside of
   the fields).
 * After reading the advice by WebAIM on [ Usable and Accessible Form Validation and Error Recovery](http://webaim.org/techniques/formvalidation/#error)
   I’m thinking a better, more accessible (and usable) validation would involve:
 * * the ‘errors on top’ style of validation
    * a message that includes the number
   of errors, e.g. ‘ the form has 3 errors that need correcting’ * a list of errors
   that links to the field with the error * when the page loads, if the page has
   errors the browsers focus is set to the error message – meaning for a screen 
   reader user the first thing they should hear is ‘the form has 3 errors that need
   correcting’
 * I would also like to include the HTML5 ‘required’ attribute and aria-required
   attribute on the the required input fields.
 * Let me know if you have any thoughts or can provide any advice.
 *  Thread Starter [luckster99](https://wordpress.org/support/users/luckster99/)
 * (@luckster99)
 * [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/validation-error-notification/#post-5787536)
 * Thanks for your response!
 * What my tester wrote was:
 * _ “GravityForms do utilize labels, but when submitted with missing input, no 
   feedback is provided that is detectable by a screen reader user. There is no 
   alert spoken and the focus is not moved to an intelligent location on the screen,
   such as the location of the first error. “
 * He said he could hear the validation error text IF he moved backwards through
   the form after submitting but who would do this unless they knew there was a 
   problem. There was no alert that told him he missed a required field or had other
   problem. He thought the form was successfully submitted. We almost missed this
   problem – we only realized it when he mentioned a form he submitted and I said
   I never got it.
 * What you write sounds like the right answer. I’m not very familiar with the technical
   solutions. The other thing that jumped out at me from WebAIM was: “Regardless
   of the mechanism used to identify and recover from form errors, aria-invalid=”
   true” should generally be set on each invalid form control. This attribute causes
   screen readers to identify the control as being “invalid” or in need of attention.”
 * Thank you so much for thinking about accessibility for forms. We were struck 
   as to how many of them fail to account for accessibility in any meaningful way.
   Unlike some accessibility problems that might be just an annoyance for a screen
   reader user, this problem was a deal breaker for us. I could just see a student
   applying for a position in a lab, trying to submit a homework assignment, or 
   make an appointment and never knowing that it wasn’t even submitted. The ramifications
   could be pretty terrible.
 * Contact Form 7 can do a lot but it requires the form creator to know how to manually
   add some html….our users would never in a million years do this consistently.
   If we could get Gravity forms up and running, it would be fantastic.
 * Let me know if you need any other information. My tester is on retainer and I
   could get a little of his time perhaps. However, he is not a programmer and doesn’t
   typically tell us how to fix our problems….just that we have them.
 *  Plugin Author [ovann86](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ovann86/)
 * (@ovann86)
 * [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/validation-error-notification/#post-5787578)
 * Hi,
 * I did some more research on accessible form validation – what as it turns out
   is a complicated topic with many different approaches.
 * The advice here [http://www.karlgroves.com/2011/10/10/accessible-form-labeling-instructions](http://www.karlgroves.com/2011/10/10/accessible-form-labeling-instructions/)
   and [http://www.nczonline.net/blog/2013/02/12/making-an-accessible-dialog-box/](http://www.karlgroves.com/2011/10/10/accessible-form-labeling-instructions/)
   were valuable.
 * I’ve made a whole bunch of changes to the validation message, should be must 
   improved.
 * I had a go at testing a few of my forms using JAWS 16 and it was much easier 
   to navigate through the form and work through validation errors – but I’m not
   sure it’s perfect yet.
 * If you still have a Gravity Forms I suggest you install the latest version and
   have a look at the changes to the validation process.
 * I’ll also get in touch with a screen reader user to have them test my forms to
   get some more feedback.
 * Let me know how you go and what you think.
 *  Thread Starter [luckster99](https://wordpress.org/support/users/luckster99/)
 * (@luckster99)
 * [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/validation-error-notification/#post-5787621)
 * Cool – we do still have Gravity Forms installed.
 * Did you update your plugin or are you saying that Gravity Forms updated and had
   improved validation errors??
 *  Plugin Author [ovann86](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ovann86/)
 * (@ovann86)
 * [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/validation-error-notification/#post-5787626)
 * Hey,
 * I updated the plugin, and once again today to version 1.2.1.
 * This is probably going to be an ongoing process, which I hope results in something
   I can pass onto the Gravity Forms developers for it can be done in the core version.(
   imagine that – a forms software that can claim 100% accessible – would be a real
   selling point for them!)
 * I noticed my multi-page forms still don’t pass the automated checks, something
   about duplicate ID’s. – I think each page DIV (including the hidden pages that
   aren’t being displayed, hidden using css) have duplicate ID attributes .. not
   sure if a plugin can fix that, potentially something worth raising with the developers
   if there’s no real reason why it’s done like that.
 *  Thread Starter [luckster99](https://wordpress.org/support/users/luckster99/)
 * (@luckster99)
 * [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/validation-error-notification/#post-5787635)
 * This is really cool. I”ll be checking it out soon. I had written to gravity forms
   developers re: this and they simply responded that they don’t guarantee accessibility.
   didn’t seem that interested but if you do all the work for them….I do think this
   issue is gaining traction and would be a good selling point.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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## Tags

 * [alert](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/alert/)
 * [form](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/form/)
 * [screen-reader](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/screen-reader/)
 * [Validation error](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/validation-error/)

 * 6 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [luckster99](https://wordpress.org/support/users/luckster99/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/validation-error-notification/#post-5787635)
 * Status: not resolved