Audio and video
Do not refresh or redirect the page on a timer
- Rule:
meta-refresh - Severity: Critical
- WCAG level A
Why it matters
An automatic refresh interrupts a screen reader mid-sentence and moves focus back to the top. Anyone reading slowly, or filling in a form, loses their place and sometimes their input.
How to fix it
- Remove the meta refresh and let people reload when they choose.
- For a server-side redirect, use an HTTP 3xx response instead — it does not interrupt anyone.
- For live data, update the region in place and announce it politely.
In markup
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5"><!-- Refresh on demand instead -->
<button type="button" data-action="reload">Update prices</button>The requirement behind it
This rule is one way of failing the following WCAG 2.2 success criteria. The W3C, which writes the standard, explains each of them:
- 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable (opens in new tab) — WCAG level A
Further reading
Deque University on meta-refresh (opens in new tab)
Deque maintains axe-core, the open-source engine our scanner runs. Their page documents the rule as the engine implements it.
Automated checks find failures a browser can prove. They cannot judge whether a caption is accurate, whether an alt text is useful, or whether a page can be operated end to end with a keyboard — those need a person.