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Progress Bars

Progress indicators express an unspecified wait time or display the length of a process.

Accessibility

  • Use aria-valuetext to provide more specific information about the content being loaded. For example, “Please wait, this data table is loading…”.
  • Add aria-busy="true" to a container or element to indicate the element is loading. Once loaded, change the value from true to false. For example:
    • If loading an entire page, add the attribute to <body> or wrapper.
    • If loading a specific component (e.g, table), add the attribute to the container of that component.
    • If loading content inside a modal, add the attribute to the modal element.
    • The intervals are announced to screen reader users via an aria-live region. Don’t overwhelm screen reader users with continuous reading of every instant in a progress bar’s trajectory. Announcing the progress at certain timed intervals (e.g. every 5 seconds), or at certain percentage intervals (e.g. every 10% or every 20%) is best.
Last updated February 8, 2023.