Components
Alert notification
Use the alert notification to tell people about something that might affect the service they receive.
Guidelines
Use alert notifications to highlight events that might limit availability of a service we provide. For example if:
- the service the user is trying to access is experiencing problems
- planned system maintenance is coming soon
- the user’s login session is about to expire
Only use alert notifications when absolutely necessary. Using them too often could make the problem worse.
We know that people often miss or ignore banners. Go to Nielsen Norman Group research on banners.
Example
Coronavirus
Alert notification used during the coronavirus pandemic to tell people about changing service updates.
Required elements
Title
The alert title should clearly state the problem or potential problem.
Text
Use a brief line of text, preferably a single sentence, to provide more information.
This could be the length of time the service will be affected or a link.
Optional elements
Link
If a link is used it should direct the user to more information or an action they can take to solve the problem.
You can also make the whole notification into a clickable link.
Make sure that any text link you include and this link go to the same place.
Changelog for this page
| Date | Notes |
|---|---|
| 14 April 2021 | First version of page published |