Best Practices
Properties
Variant
| Value | Usage | Example |
|---|---|---|
info | Message without a clear semantic that doesn’t require immediate attention. For example, announcements, product invitations, and progress feedback. | ”A new Products experience is available. This version will be discontinued in June 2024.” with a Try new version action |
critical | Action that failed due to a technical error or a user error. Include a proposed action or, when it’s not possible, explain what to do next. | ”There are 2 invoices that could not be processed because of a technical issue” with a Try again action |
warning | Unexpected behavior or something to be cautious about. Consider including a proposed action or explaining what to do next. | ”Stores in this account still can’t sell to the final customer” with an Activate account action |
positive | Action that matched or surpassed expectations. | ”The performance of this seller improved and now meets minimum requirements” with a View performance action |
Icon
Each Alert variant includes a specific semantic icon that should not be customized.
Message
- Write a brief and direct sentence with 240 characters at most. Prefer to include an action that complements the message when needed.
- Don’t use technical language. For example, use “The invoice could not be processed because of a technical issue” instead of “Error 298dx9283 prevented the invoice from being processed”.
- Use sentence case, but capitalize proper nouns.
- Don’t use personal pronouns.
Action
Keep the message brief by including an action that complements it, such as to:
- Provide more details in a modal or related page.
- Test a new feature or product.
- Retry a failed action.
Read the Button documentation for more details.
Dismissible
Most Alerts should be dismissible, such as success feedback and product invitations. An Alert with crucial information can be non-dismissible if their persistence doesn’t harm the user experience.
- Warning Alert with prominent help text: Consider these part of the page content and therefore non-dismissible. For example, “Copy and save the Application Token because it will only be displayed once”.
- Critical Alert that blocks the usage of the page: Errors of this severity shouldn’t be dismissible. For example, “This extension is not available because payment flags are not enabled” with a Set up payment button.
Position
Position directly on the Page (global context) or inside a Card or Modal (specific context). Always at the start of the container, directly below its header, taking up 100% of the width but respecting the container margins. Don’t position the Alert inside, above, or attached to the Page Header.
Behavior
Timing
- Most Alerts appear at the same time as other content during loading. Non-dismissive alerts related to progress feedback, however, can appear afterwards as action feedback. For example, “This release is being published and may take up to 5 minutes”.
- Don’t dismiss an Alert automatically. For temporary notifications, use a Toast instead.
Multiple Alerts
Avoid displaying more than one Alert at the same time. Prefer to summarize the information in a single Alert. For example, “There are 10 invoices with recent updates” with a View details button.