What to change
Ask your supplier to make a popup's purpose and essential explanation apparent before visitors act, including through keyboard and spoken navigation.
A worked example
Illustrative example
Opening a contact-options popup makes its heading and available choices clear, rather than leaving focus on the page's original Contact button.
Why this matters to your practice
A popup should introduce itself when it opens. Someone needs to understand its purpose before choosing an option or entering details. Ask your supplier to demonstrate the opening by keyboard and with spoken feedback, including any essential explanation before the first question. Automatically jumping straight into a field can skip that context. Your practical judgement is whether a visitor can recognise the new task and continue confidently without accidentally operating the page underneath it.
A practical review example
A visitor opens a panel offering contact options from halfway down a service page. Ask your supplier to demonstrate the opening without a mouse and listen to its introduction. The person should recognise the new task instead of continuing to operate links behind it. For a longer panel, check that moving to an input does not skip an explanation needed before answering. Review the same opening with larger text, where a jump to a lower control can leave important context outside view.
How to check the result
Accept when each popup begins in a useful, visible position that supports understanding and the next intended action.
A mistake to avoid
Always focusing the first input is not necessarily appropriate when a visitor needs to read an explanation before providing information.
Turn reading into a next step
Your action checklist
Work through these checks with your team or supplier. Tick the ones you have resolved and leave unknowns open.
Record what you know, what is still missing and the answer you need from your team or supplier.
Use project decisions only, without personal, patient or confidential details. Entries stay in this page and are not submitted to Kay & Co. Copy or download before leaving; this page does not save your notes.
Further reading
These sources provide background for the topic. The practice examples and checklist are illustrative planning suggestions from Kay & Co.
Related guides
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