A pop-up — for anyone unfamiliar with the term — is an overlay window that suddenly appears on a website, automatically displaying a specific message to the visitor.
It might be a promotional pop-up designed to encourage visitors to get in touch, a pop-up offering a special deal, or an exit-intent pop-up that appears just as a user is about to leave the site.
We won't spend too long defining what a pop-up is. Our goal in this article is to explain what happens from a web accessibility standpoint the moment a pop-up is triggered.
Is the User Even Aware the Pop-Up Has Opened?
Remember, our mission as a web accessibility company is to put ourselves in the shoes of visitors with disabilities who browse your site and ensure their experience is as seamless and complete as possible despite their limitations.
Imagine a user who is blind or has severe visual impairment navigating your site — scrolling, consuming content — and suddenly a pop-up appears without them having any idea it has.
Can they guess that a new window has appeared? No — they need to be told. Something must alert them to it, even though they cannot see it.
That is why one of the first things we check is whether the site can "announce" to the user that a pop-up has opened. If it can — great. If not, we implement the necessary code-level solutions to make that happen.
A Pop-Up Should Never Trap the User
A pop-up essentially creates a situation where an overlay is open and the user cannot access the rest of the site sitting "behind" it.
This is where keyboard navigation becomes critically important.
Users who do not use a mouse — such as those with visual impairments — rely on the keyboard to move between every element on a page and interact with all clickable components.
We need to ask ourselves several key questions:
- Does our pop-up allow full keyboard navigation within it?
- Can the user close the pop-up whenever they choose?
- Is the pop-up accessible to screen readers?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, it needs to be fixed. Remember — users with disabilities have every right to enjoy your website just as any other visitor does.
Add to Cart
Another common issue arises on e-commerce websites when a user adds a product to their cart.
In these cases, a side-panel pop-up often opens to display the items that have been added.
During accessibility audits, we frequently discover that there is no clear confirmation that the product was actually added to the cart. In other words, the user receives no message definitively confirming whether their action succeeded or failed.
Sounds like a minor detail? Try putting yourself in the shoes of users who depend on that feedback. It is an incredibly important issue — and it makes the difference between a satisfying, effective visit and a frustrating experience where the user fails to accomplish what they came to do.
Is Your Pop-Up an Image?
If so, we can safely assume it contains a fair amount of promotional content.
Let's say the pop-up features an image of a baby wearing sunglasses. A site owner might describe it in the ALT tag as simply "baby wearing sunglasses."
But what about the text embedded within the image? That text likely contains a promotional offer — information that the user has every right to access.
For pop-up images that include embedded text, we must incorporate a full textual description of all text displayed within the image.
And that is just one example from the rich and creative world of web accessibility.
Talk to Us
At USER A, we are here for you with a professional and dedicated team bringing extensive knowledge, expertise, and hands-on experience in web accessibility projects of every scale.
We offer our services at a highly competitive annual fee — and it covers everything. Full accessibility implementation including advanced automation and manual remediation wherever needed, plus year-round technical support and guidance.