Alert

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Alerts are displayed inline with other page content and show status depending on the severity of the message.

Alerts have five status variants:

Use an alert to notify a user without blocking or interrupting them.

Position alerts in line with page content so that they are closely associated with the related content that follows them.

Use alerts in line with other associated page content.

Use alerts to:

Summarise form validation errors.
Inform of failures in a particular part of an app.
Inform of a success when returning to a homepage, confirmation page or starting location.
Make important information stand out from surrounding content.

Include a button or link within an alert to provide related interactions.

Include a dismiss button within an alert to allow the alert to be dismissed.

Include a button or link to provide actions on an alert. Use a dismiss button to allow the alert to be dismissed.

Don’t use alerts for passive feedback on a process, for example 'draft discarded' or 'email sent'. Use toasts instead.

Don’t overlay alerts on page content. Alerts are placed inline with the rest of the page content.

Don’t use alerts positioned above/on top of page content.

Use the form validation pattern for errors on a text field or in a form.

Do not use an alert variant that is not related to its message.

Avoid using lengthy message content in an alert. Use dialogs or a full page error message to display longer messages.

Use a title on an alert to provide a short description of the alert content.

Avoid using lengthy messages within an alert.

Use the default icons with success, warning, error and info alerts.

When using neutral alerts, specify an icon to be used from the iconography guidance . Always specify alt text when using any custom icon.

Last reviewed 22 August 2023 .