Timed meta tag page redirect Accessibility Checkpoint

Description

Do not use the meta refresh tag to redirect pages after a pause because this confuses users.

Help

Some people, including screen reader users, won’t have time to read the page before it redirects unexpectedly. If you cannot avoid using meta refresh, change the refresh time to zero, since the redirect is instant and won’t confuse people.

Applicable standards

• ACT Rules bc659a
• WCAG 2.0 F40 (Success Criteria: 2.2.1 level A, 2.2.4 level AAA, 3.2.5 level AAA)
• WCAG 2.1 F40 (Success Criteria: 2.2.1 level A, 2.2.4 level AAA, 3.2.5 level AAA)
• WCAG 2.2 F40 (Success Criteria: 2.2.1 level A, 2.2.4 level AAA, 3.2.5 level AAA)
• Section 508 (2017) F40 (Success Criteria: 2.2.1 level A, 2.2.4 level AAA, 3.2.5 level AAA)

Note: Section 508 Refresh (2017) checkpoints are equivalent to WCAG 2.0 level A and level AA checkpoints.

Change history

• 5.36 Jan 2020 Aligned with ACT Rules. Changed rule ID from AccWcag1-7.5.1 to AccHtmlMetaRedirect.
• 4.7 Jun 2012 Now triggers Section 508 1194.22 (p).
• 3.5 Dec 2009 Don’t fire for refresh = 0 (because sighted users don’t see the content either - see WCAG 2 F40).
• 3.0 Dec 2008 Now triggers WCAG2 F40.
• 1.0 Feb 2007 Added.

This page describes a web site issue detected in HTML documents by SortSite Desktop and OnDemand Suite.

Rule ID: AccHtmlMetaRedirect