Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data)
Success Criterion 3.3.4 (Level AA)
Question
In your site or application, do you provide a way for a user to reverse a submission, correct input errors, or confirm data before final submission of legal, financial, or data (test response data)?
Why is this important
All users, including people with disabilities, make mistakes when submitting input forms. Users often accidentally input wrong or incomplete information, or make typographical errors that they don’t catch in time before submission. In the specific case of legal, financial, or testing data situations, if the user is unable to reverse or confirm the submitted data it can result in costly and ongoing consequences. Allowing a user to reverse a submission, correct input errors, or confirm data before final submission helps users avoid irreversible consequences.
Whom does it benefit?
Example 1:
As a person with a motor disability who regularly presses the wrong keys on my keyboard,
I want to confirm my responses before submitting critical data
so that I can avoid accidentally submitting the wrong data with no way to undo it.
Example 2:
As a student who has dyslexia and experiences difficulties with tracking my location on a page,
I want review my work prior to final submission
so that I can correct any misspelled words or incorrect selections made on multiple choice
questions.
What should you do?
Any web pages or applications that cause legal commitments or financial transactions, modify user stored controllable data (e.g., user account information), or submit user test responses must include one of the following:
- The user can reverse the action
- Input data is validated and any error(s) in the data can be corrected by the user before submission
- The user can review, confirm, and correct input data before finalizing the submission
How do you do it?
For web pages that submit Legal and Financial commitments
- Provide users a way to navigate back and forth, allowing them to review all data entered, or provide a summary of all data collected in all steps for the user to review and confirm the final submission of the transaction.
- Provide a checkbox with a label like "I confirm that the input is correct and am ready to submit" that users must select to indicate they have reviewed their input and are ready for it to be committed. The checkbox should be located near the submit button to help the user notice it during the submission process. Only if the checkbox is selected will the input be accepted and the transaction processed.
- Provide a timeframe in which a submission request can be amended or canceled when applicable.
For web pages that store user controllable data
- Provide a checkbox with a label like "I confirm that I wish to delete this data" that users must select to indicate they have reviewed their changes and are ready for it to be committed. The checkbox should be located near the submit button to help the user notice it during the submission process. Only if the checkbox is selected will the input be accepted and the changes processed.
- Keep the deleted data by delaying the deletion, holding the data in a separate location for some period of time or by recording all deleted transactions in such a way that data can be restored if requested by the user.
- Seek confirmation from the user that the selected action is his or her intended action.
For web pages that submit user test responses
- Provide users a way to navigate back and forth through test response selections, allowing them to review and/or edit all responses entered. Or, provide a summary of all responses collected for the user to review and confirm the final submission of the test responses, also allowing a way for users to edit responses before final submission.
- Seek confirmation from the user that the selected action is his or her intended action.
Need technical guidance?
Technical guidance is available for implementing this Success Criterion at the Understanding Success Criterion 3.3.4 - Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data) page.
Additional Resources to help you:
- 3.3.4 Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data) (Level AA) - WUHCAG
- Understanding Web Accessibility - IDRC Courses
- General Technique 1 - W3C
- General Technique 2 - W3C
- General Technique 3 - W3C
- General Technique 4 - W3C
- General Technique 5 - W3C