New Messages from a Chatbot

Question

Should messages from a chatbot be announced when they appear in a chat widget?

Answer

We recommend presenting new messages from a chatbot using a polite alert. This way, people using screen readers won't have to navigate to the new content to perceive it, and the presentation of this new content won't interfere with the announcement of other content (this would happen if you used an assertive alert, which we do not recommend in this situation). Read more about assertive and polite alerts here.

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