Helpful advice technique

(10) Link error messages to error fields.

Applies to:

Guideline 2.5 Level 2, SC 1

Applicability:

This technique applies to interactive environments where the user has made an error.

Task:

linking error messages to places where the errors occurred

Testable Statement:

When this task is completed, the user will be able to link from the error message to the field where the error occurs.

Description:

One of the difficulties in providing error notification after the form is completed is that it is sometimes difficult for people with disabilities to find which error applies to which field. This technique would overcome this problem by providing a link from each error message to the field that contains the error.

Resources:

This would require some programming beyond basic HTML because the technique would have to identify where errors were made, generate error messages that are placed at the top of the page that contains the form, and create links from those messages to the form fields of the corresponding errors. It cannot be accomplished without server side scripting and therefore there may not be a W3C technique to which we could link.

Editor's note: this technique could cause confusion because the user would have to return to the top of the page to link to each error.