WCAG 3.3.3 Error Suggestion

Error messages suggest how to fix the input

Checked automatically: clicks through the page. Severity: medium. Telling a user only that a field is 'invalid' leaves people with cognitive or visual disabilities guessing, and many abandon the form.

An approximation: Up to four forms per page are submitted empty and then with a wrong value (an email without an @, letters in a phone number) in a browser that stops every write, so the messages seen are the ones the page's scripts and the browser's validation show before anything would be sent. A form whose only field is an email address is sent once, to its own site, with a value that is not an address. Forms with a password, a payment card or a file are never submitted. A form made only of selects and checkboxes with nothing required cannot be filled in wrongly and is not applicable. Each message that appears is read by a decisions model (TypeSafe's Jev) for whether it says what is wrong or what to enter; one that only says something failed, with 80% certainty, fails. A message the browser itself writes is accepted. A form that is checked only by its server shows nothing, and is reported for review with that reason.

How to fix it. When validation fails and the fix is known, say it in the error: "Enter the date as DD/MM/YYYY", "Password needs at least 12 characters". Do not do so where it would weaken security.