Notifications

It’s important to keep users informed and send notifications when there is an update or status change they should be aware of. Users should always be given appropriate and timely messages to help them understand whether they are moving towards their goal. Ensure your notifications are relevant, timely, and informative.

Be considerate of your users when sending a notification. Notifications that are too frequent or disruptive create negative experiences and drive users from platforms.

Notifications are comprised of status and type. Their status signifies the purpose of the information being conveyed. Notification types allow you to tailor the disruptiveness of the notification to the specific situation. Notification status and type options in Carbon should be combined to create notifications that are relevant, timely, and informative for each use case.

Use notifications to inform users of important status changes and updates. Transparency is a core element of building user trust and is the first of Jakob Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics. They should be relevant to the user and as minimally disruptive as possible. There are two major use cases for notifications: task-generated and system-generated.

Task-generated notifications are initiated in response to user action during a specific task. They give users direct, immediate feedback. They should be placed in the region of the page the user is working in and be related to the user’s action.

You might send a task-generated notification when:

These notifications are initiated by the system independent of user action. They provide updates on background system status or out-of-context events that have finished.

You might send a system-generated notification when:

Only send notifications where necessary. Confine each notification to the portion of the interface and workflow it is relevant to. Being interrupted creates a frustrating and discouraging experience for users, so this should be limited as much as possible. Additionally, frequent distractions lower productivity and can lead to alert fatigue.

Notification status helps convey the information being communicated. These statuses correspond with a color and icon to provide a consistent, universal experience for users.

Inline notifications are nondisruptive and confined to a specific area in the UI. Inline notifications display both task-generated and system-generated messages and persist until they are dismissed by the user or the notification is resolved. They are frequently used in conjunction with field-level messages for errors in forms or other input areas.

Carbon offers low-contrast and high-contrast inline notifications. All inline notifications use a color that corresponds with their message intent and can also be accompanied by an icon to reinforce the message intent.

Toasts are notifications that slide in and out, typically in the top right of the page. They are more disruptive than inline notifications and are best used with system-generated messages that do not correspond to a specific section of the UI. Toasts disappear automatically after a set amount of time but can also be dismissed by the user.

Carbon toasts can be either low-contrast or high-contrast. Their color should correspond with the message intent and they can also use an icon to convey the message intent.

Banners take over the top of an interface to show notifications general to the product or system, not a specific task. They persist until they are dismissed by the user. Banners can include a ghost button or link. Depending on the message, the user resolving a product or system issue may also dismiss the banner (e.g. updating necessary account information). Banners may also persist across multiple sessions.

Carbon currently does not have a banner component, but if your team has developed one it can be contributed and made available to others.

Notification panels are helpful for users who receive a large number of system-generated notifications or may need to reference their notifications later. Notification panels are used in conjunction with toasts to alert users of notifications as they come in.

Notification panels are a great solution to ensure that users can access and read all notifications without cluttering the screen with many persistent notifications. In addition to being useful, notification centers address some accessibility considerations with screen readers.

The right panel in the Carbon UI shell supports a notification center. Carbon does not currently have a notification panel component, but if your team has developed one it can be contributed and made available to others.

Modals interrupt the user and pause their current task. They are highly disruptive to users and should be used sparingly. Only use a modal when the message is critical and needs the user’s immediate attention or action. Modals persist until users engage with them and only disappear when dismissed by the user.

Notifications range in their priority and therefore should vary in their disruptiveness to users. It is important to match the urgency and priority of the information being communicated to the visual style and behavior of the notification.

Carbon offers two visual styles for inline and toast notifications. The high-contrast style is more visually disruptive and should be used for notifications that are urgent or critical. The low-contrast style is better for supplemental messaging or other low priority use cases. Toast and inline notifications can use different styles, but you should never mix styles within the variations.

Notifications can include a ghost button that lets users interact with them. Taking action on these notifications should be optional and should not block the user from continuing with their current task. This action frequently takes users to a flow or page related to the message, where they can resolve the notification. All notifications should be dismissed when users interact with them.

Some notifications must block users from dismissing the notification or continuing with their task until the message has been addressed. This is common in forms when there are errors or empty input fields. Notifications that prevent users from continuing should be relevant to the current task and provide the user with the steps needed to resolve them or continue with their current task.

Blocking users from continuing with a task is disruptive and hinders the overall experience, so these notifications should only be used when it is critical the user sees the notification or the user needs to take action right away.

It’s important to consider the user’s context when writing notification messages. Because task-generated notifications are sent in response to user action, it isn’t necessary to give users extensive background information. Conversely, system-generated notifications are generally not relevant to the user’s current task so you should ensure the user has sufficient context to understand the notification.

Message content should be clear and concise. If a user is expected to take an action, ensure they know how to take that action.

Error messages should be diagnosable and provide steps to resolve the issue. Avoid using technical language that is unfamiliar to the user.

Only move a screen reader’s focus for the user when a notification is critical. Use aria-live regions to update the user as notifications come in while also being conscious of the user’s needs. Using aria-live="assertive" informs screen reader users that a notification is present without moving focus to the notification and is recommended for most high priority notifications. If a notification is not a priority, use aria-live="polite" instead. This delays the announcement of the notification until the user finishes their current task so they are not interrupted.

It should be easy to navigate to the notification using only a keyboard. Using TAB moves the screen focus to the notification and pressing SPACE or ENTER dismiss the notification.

Don’t use notifications that dismiss on a timer for critical or emergency messages. Some users with disabilities need more time to read or interact with messages and timed toasts may not provide sufficient time. WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.4 (AAA)

Users should be able to manage or limit noncritical notifications. This gives users the control to reduce the number of distractions or disruptions they receive, which is particularly helpful for users with cognitive limitations. WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.3 (AAA)

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