Interruptions
Interruptions — pop-ups, notifications, alerts, auto-updates — must be postponable or suppressible by the user, except for those involving an emergency.
What it asks
The user must be able to postpone or suppress non-emergency interruptions: chat-widget pop-ups, browser push prompts, newsletter modals, “Are you still there?” overlays, notification toasts, and auto-refreshing content. Emergency interruptions — fire warnings on a building-management dashboard, safety alerts on a medical device — are exempt.
How to meet it
- Provide a global “Do not disturb” or “Pause notifications” setting that suppresses non-critical toasts, chat invitations, and onboarding nudges.
- For browser-level prompts (notifications, location), do not auto-trigger them on page load — bind them to an explicit user action.
- For chat-widget pop-ups (“Hi! Need help?”), respect a previously-dismissed state across sessions and offer a global opt-out.
- For onboarding tours and feature spotlights, allow the user to dismiss permanently with a single click.
- For dashboards with live updates, expose a “Pause updates” control.
Common failures
- Newsletter modals that re-fire on every visit despite the user dismissing them.
- Chat widgets that pop open automatically after 30 seconds with no per-session memory.
- Push-notification permission prompts triggered automatically on page load.
- “We’ve updated our terms” modals that appear mid-interaction with no way to defer.
- Live-update notifications stacking on a single-page app with no mute control.
Why it matters
Interruptions break flow for everyone, but they are especially disabling for users with cognitive impairments, ADHD, autism, or anxiety, and for screen-reader users who lose their reading position whenever a new live region announces itself. AAA-level conformance is rare in commercial settings, but the principle — let users postpone non-emergencies — is increasingly being adopted as a UX baseline regardless of formal WCAG targets.