Notification

Use notifications to inform users of updates or changes to system status. Communicating with users and providing immediate feedback are important for building trust. While notifications are an effective method of communicating with users, they are disruptive and should be used sparingly.

For more context on when to use each notification variant, including modals, refer to the notifications pattern. Carbon only supports inline, toast, actionable, and modal notification variants, although some product teams also support banners and notification centers.

Notifications provide limited space for content, and therefore the content must be short and concise. A user should be able to quickly scan the notification, be apprised of the situation, and know what to do next.

If a toast or inline notification requires a message longer than two lines, use an actionable notification and include a short message with a “View more” link that takes the user to a view of the full notification message. This can be either a full page with more details or a modal.

For further content guidance, see Carbon’s content guidelines.

Inline notifications show up in task flows, to notify users of the status of an action or system. They usually appear at the top of the primary content area or close to the item needing attention.

The width of inline notifications varies based on content and layout. They can expand to the fill the container or content area they relate to. Their height is based on the content length, which should not exceed two lines of text.

Inline notifications appear near their related items. They can expand to fill the width of the container or content area they are in and should align to the grid columns.

We recommend placing inline notifications at the bottom of forms, just above the submission and cancel buttons. When error notifications apply to individual text inputs, they should supplement the error state on that specific input field.

Inline notifications do not dismiss automatically. They persist on the page until the user dismisses them or takes action that resolves the notification.

A small “x” in the top right corner is used to dismiss inline notifications. Including the close button is optional and should not be included if it is critical for a user to read or interact with the notification.

Toasts are non-modal, time-based window elements used to display short messages; they usually appear at the top of the screen and disappear after a few seconds.

Toast notifications can include a time stamp at the bottom the container. The time stamp shows the time the notification was sent. Using time stamps is optional but toasts should be consistent across the product so either all toasts should include time stamps or none of them should. The time stamp is optional and can be removed if a third line of content is needed.

Toast notifications use a fixed width and their height depends on the length of the notification message. As noted in the content guidelines, limit toast notifications to two lines of text.

Toast notifications slide in and out from the top right of the screen. They stack with $spacing-03 in-between. New toast notifications should appear at the top of the list, with older notifications being pushed down until they are dismissed.

Toast notifications persist by default. Toasts do have the option to timeout and dismiss automatically after five seconds on the screen. They can also include a close button so users can dismiss them sooner. Toasts cover content on the screen so they should always be easily dismissed. Because toast notifications can dismiss automatically, users should be able to access them elsewhere after the toast disappears. This allows them to be accessible for users who need more time reading the notification or who may want to refer back to the notification.

Actionable notifications allow for interactive elements within a notification styled like an inline or toast notification. Actionable notifications, since they require user interaction, take focus when triggered and can be highly disruptive to screen readers and keyboard users. With actionable notifications, only one action is allowed per notification. This action frequently takes users to a flow or page related to the message, where they can resolve the notification. Consider using a notification center where a user can revisit and act on past notifications.

Actionable inline notifications have a ghost button action that is adjacent to the title and body content. On mobile screens the action button wraps under the body content. This button should allow users to take further action on the notification.

Actionable toast notifications can include a button at the end of their body content. This button should be short and navigate users to a page or modal where they can take action to address the notification or find further information. Because toast notifications automatically dismiss, it is important that there are alternative routes to navigate to the link destination.

All notifications, including actionable, persist by default until a user dismissed them. If using inline styling refer to inline notifications for inline dismissal. If using toast styling for an actionable notification, then the notification should remain on screen until the user dismisses it. With the notification remaining open, the user has enough time to interact with the button without the toast closing too soon. Refer to toast notifications for further information.

Notifications are system generated. A user can close a dismissible notification by clicking the close x

For actionable notifications, the action gets focus first. Use Tab to move between action and the close x. To close notifications, press Enter or Space while the close x has focus or use the Esc key.

VoiceOver: To close notifications, press Enter or Space while the close x has focus or use the Esc key.

JAWS: To close notifications, press Enter or Space while the close x has focus or use the Esc key.

NVDA: To close notifications, press Enter or Space while the close x has focus or use the Esc key.

Carbon supports high and low contrast style notifications. High-contrast notifications are best for critical messaging while low-contrast notifications are less visually disruptive for users.

It’s up to the product team to decide which notification style to use in their product. Inline and toast notifications can use different styles but you should never mix styles within each notification variant. When in doubt, use low-contrast notifications.

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