2.3.1 – Three Flashes or Below (Level A)

posted in Beginner (Level A) on by

No content flashes more than three times per second

To make your website as safe as possible for all users, you must limit the amount of flashing media. Flashing content can harm the health of some users.

What this means

Don’t add anything to your website that flashes more than three times per second.

Tips

Remember, flashing is different to blinking (see Guideline 2.2.2).

Exceptions

There is a ridiculously complicated exception based on the user’s visual field. You should just avoid all flashing content, but here it is:

the combined area of flashes occurring concurrently occupies no more than a total of .006 steradians within any 10 degree visual field on the screen (25% of any 10 degree visual field on the screen) at typical viewing distance.Understanding WCAG 2.0

If you can work out what that means, I dare you to use it.

See also

Free Developer Resources

Join over 2,000 accessibility fans and get free developer resources like WCAG 2.0 Checklists and a sample from my book.

Powered by ConvertKit

Over 250 people just like you have learned more about WCAG 2.0 with my guidebook.

Learn more >

  • One thing that is important to check is that any video conforms to this, and that means checking anything that is added to your site. It is probably the reason for the technical exception, because a small video window may well pass. They announce on the news if there will be any flash photography in a clip for good reason, and exactly the same applies to the web, even some film trailers can fall foul of the guideline. Of course that can be difficult if for example you publish many videos.

    However, it is also important to put this in perspective. The age standardised estimate for prevalence of epilepsy is 0.75% (source here) and the estimate for prevalance of photosensitive epilepsy is 3% of those who have epilepsy (source http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/photosensitive-epilepsy), so only a small number of people are potentially affected.

    That isn’t to say that the guideline should be ignored, and photosensitive epilepsy is a serious condition.

  • Thanks for your perspective Richard, have you come across a plain English explanation of the exception? I’d love to give my readers a proper understanding of it, if it can help at all.

  • Oisin Connolly

    I didn’t even know people are putting strobe effects on websites…. I’ve only ever encountered it in video, in which case any digital media artist who knows what their doing would put in a warning.

    Do you have any links to offending websites? Im curious to see what it would be like…I can’t imagine any website that flashes its users to death is going to have a good design or be very popular 😛

  • Sorry Luke, I forgot to reply to your question. I haven’t seen a plain English explanation unfortunately.

    Oisin, in all the many websites I have tested, I have only ever come across flashing in video. A common one is of course flash photography in news reporting, but sometimes I see something like a cinema trailer or similar where the picture or parts of it change so rapidly that it could be considered flashing. As you say, the important thing is a warning, and along with that comes the need to not auto start anything with flashing content.

  • What’s up colleagues, how is everything, and what you want to say concerning this post, in my view its genuinely amazing designed for me.