Timed meta tag page refresh Accessibility Checkpoint

Description

Do not use the meta refresh tag to automatically refresh pages because this confuses users.

Help

Some people, including screen reader users, won’t have time to read the page before it refreshes unexpectedly.

Warning: Never set the refresh delay to zero when the meta refresh has no redirect - this causes the page to continually reload with a flashing effect.

Applicable standards

• ACT Rules bc659a
• WCAG 2.0 F41 (Success Criteria: 2.2.1 level A, 2.2.4 level AAA, 3.2.5 level AAA)
• WCAG 2.1 F41 (Success Criteria: 2.2.1 level A, 2.2.4 level AAA, 3.2.5 level AAA)
• WCAG 2.2 F41 (Success Criteria: 2.2.1 level A, 2.2.4 level AAA, 3.2.5 level AAA)
• Section 508 (2017) F41 (Success Criteria: 2.2.1 level A, 2.2.4 level AAA, 3.2.5 level AAA)

Note: Section 508 Refresh (2017) checkpoints are equivalent to WCAG 2.0 level A and level AA checkpoints.

Change history

• 6.54 Oct 2024 Fixed false positive.
• 6.41 Jul 2021 Improved detection.
• 5.36 Jan 2020 Aligned with ACT Rules. Changed rule ID from AccWcag1-7.4.1 to AccHtmlMetaRefresh.
• 4.7 Jun 2012 Now triggers Section 508 1194.22 (p).
• 3.0 Dec 2008 Now triggers WCAG2 issue.
• 1.0 Feb 2007 Added.

This page describes a web site issue detected in HTML documents by SortSite Desktop and OnDemand Suite.

Rule ID: AccHtmlMetaRefresh