Components

Notification banner
Experimental

This component is currently experimental because more research is needed to validate it.

Use a notification banner to tell the user about something they need to know about, but that’s not directly related to the page content.

Open this default – notification banner example in a new tab
HTML
<div class="govuk-notification-banner" role="region" aria-labelledby="govuk-notification-banner-title" data-module="govuk-notification-banner">
  <div class="govuk-notification-banner__header">
    <h2 class="govuk-notification-banner__title" id="govuk-notification-banner-title">
      Important
    </h2>
  </div>
  <div class="govuk-notification-banner__content">
    <p class="govuk-notification-banner__heading">
      You have 7 days left to send your application.
      <a class="govuk-notification-banner__link" href="#">View application</a>.
    </p>
  </div>
</div>
Nunjucks
Nunjucks macro options

Use options to customise the appearance, content and behaviour of a component when using a macro, for example, changing the text.

Some options are required for the macro to work; these are marked as "Required" in the option description.

If you're using Nunjucks macros in production with "html" options, or ones ending with "html", you must sanitise the HTML to protect against cross-site scripting exploits.

Primary options
Name Type Description
text string Required. The text that displays in the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. If you set html, this option is not required and is ignored.
html string Required. The HTML to use within the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. If you set html, text is not required and is ignored.
titleText string The title text that displays in the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. Use this option to set text that does not contain HTML. The available default values are 'Important', 'Success', and null:
  • if you do not set type, titleText defaults to 'Important'
  • if you set type to success, titleText defaults to 'Success'
  • if you set titleHtml, this option is ignored
titleHtml string The title HTML to use within the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. Use this option to set text that contains HTML. If you set titleHtml, the titleText option is ignored.
titleHeadingLevel string Sets heading level for the title only. You can only use values between 1 and 6 with this option. The default is 2.
type string The type of notification to render. You can use only the success or null values with this option. If you set type to success, the notification banner sets role to alert. JavaScript then moves the keyboard focus to the notification banner when the page loads. If you do not set type, the notification banner sets role to region.
role string Overrides the value of the role attribute for the notification banner. Defaults to region. If you set type to success, role defaults to alert.
titleId string The id for the banner title, and the aria-labelledby attribute in the banner. Defaults to govuk-notification-banner-title.
disableAutoFocus boolean If you set type to success, or role to alert, JavaScript moves the keyboard focus to the notification banner when the page loads. To disable this behaviour, set disableAutoFocus to true.
classes string The classes that you want to add to the notification banner.
attributes object The HTML attributes that you want to add to the notification banner, for example, data attributes. 
{% from "govuk/components/notification-banner/macro.njk" import govukNotificationBanner %}

{% set html %}
  <p class="govuk-notification-banner__heading">
    You have 7 days left to send your application.
    <a class="govuk-notification-banner__link" href="#">View application</a>.
  </p>
{% endset %}

{{ govukNotificationBanner({
  html: html
}) }}

When to use this component

A notification banner lets you tell the user about something that’s not directly relevant to the thing they’re trying to do on that page of the service. For example:

  • telling the user about a problem that’s affecting the service as a whole (for example, delays in processing applications because of an emergency)
  • telling the user about something that affects them in particular (for example, an approaching deadline they need to meet)
  • telling the user about the outcome of something they’ve just done on a previous page (for example, confirming that an email has been sent)

When not to use this component

Use notification banners sparingly. There’s evidence that people often miss them, and using them too often is likely to make this problem worse.

If the information is directly relevant to the thing the user is doing on that page, put the information in the main page content instead. Use inset text or warning text if it needs to stand out.

Don’t use a notification banner to tell the user about validation errors (use an error message and error summary instead).

How it works

Position a notification banner immediately before the page h1. The notification banner should be the same width as the page content.

Use role ="region" and aria-labelledby="govuk-notification-banner-title" (with id="govuk-notification-banner-title" on <govuk-notification-banner__title>) so that screen reader users can navigate to the notification banner.

Avoid showing more than one notification banner on the same page. Instead, combine the messages in a single notification banner. If the messages are too different to combine, only show the highest priority notification banner.

Do not show a notification banner and an error summary on the same page. Show the error summary instead of the notification banner.

Telling the user about a problem that affects the whole service

Use a ‘neutral’ blue notification banner if the user needs to know about a problem with the service as a whole.

For example:

  • in a service that lets the user register or apply for something, they might need to know that it’s taking longer than usual to process applications because of an emergency
  • in an account-type service, the user might need to know that the service will be down for scheduled maintenance
Open this whole service – notification banner example in a new tab
HTML
<div class="govuk-notification-banner" role="region" aria-labelledby="govuk-notification-banner-title" data-module="govuk-notification-banner">
  <div class="govuk-notification-banner__header">
    <h2 class="govuk-notification-banner__title" id="govuk-notification-banner-title">
      Important
    </h2>
  </div>
  <div class="govuk-notification-banner__content">
    <p class="govuk-notification-banner__heading">There may be a delay in processing your application because of the coronavirus outbreak.</p>
  </div>
</div>
Nunjucks
Nunjucks macro options

Use options to customise the appearance, content and behaviour of a component when using a macro, for example, changing the text.

Some options are required for the macro to work; these are marked as "Required" in the option description.

If you're using Nunjucks macros in production with "html" options, or ones ending with "html", you must sanitise the HTML to protect against cross-site scripting exploits.

Primary options
Name Type Description
text string Required. The text that displays in the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. If you set html, this option is not required and is ignored.
html string Required. The HTML to use within the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. If you set html, text is not required and is ignored.
titleText string The title text that displays in the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. Use this option to set text that does not contain HTML. The available default values are 'Important', 'Success', and null:
  • if you do not set type, titleText defaults to 'Important'
  • if you set type to success, titleText defaults to 'Success'
  • if you set titleHtml, this option is ignored
titleHtml string The title HTML to use within the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. Use this option to set text that contains HTML. If you set titleHtml, the titleText option is ignored.
titleHeadingLevel string Sets heading level for the title only. You can only use values between 1 and 6 with this option. The default is 2.
type string The type of notification to render. You can use only the success or null values with this option. If you set type to success, the notification banner sets role to alert. JavaScript then moves the keyboard focus to the notification banner when the page loads. If you do not set type, the notification banner sets role to region.
role string Overrides the value of the role attribute for the notification banner. Defaults to region. If you set type to success, role defaults to alert.
titleId string The id for the banner title, and the aria-labelledby attribute in the banner. Defaults to govuk-notification-banner-title.
disableAutoFocus boolean If you set type to success, or role to alert, JavaScript moves the keyboard focus to the notification banner when the page loads. To disable this behaviour, set disableAutoFocus to true.
classes string The classes that you want to add to the notification banner.
attributes object The HTML attributes that you want to add to the notification banner, for example, data attributes. 
{% from "govuk/components/notification-banner/macro.njk" import govukNotificationBanner %}

{{ govukNotificationBanner({
  text: 'There may be a delay in processing your application because of the coronavirus outbreak.'
}) }}

If your service is on GOV.UK and it’s affected by an emergency, ask your department’s content team to request a change to the service start page. If your service is getting more demand than usual, check that you’ve set up There is a problem with the service pages and Service unavailable pages, and the wording is up to date.

Telling the user about something that’s happening elsewhere

Use a ‘neutral’ notification banner if the user needs to know about something that’s happening elsewhere in the service. For example:

  • in a case working system, the user might need to know that there are new cases waiting for their attention
  • in an account-type service, you might need to tell the user that there’s a deadline approaching or that a payment is overdue
Open this default – notification banner example in a new tab
HTML
<div class="govuk-notification-banner" role="region" aria-labelledby="govuk-notification-banner-title" data-module="govuk-notification-banner">
  <div class="govuk-notification-banner__header">
    <h2 class="govuk-notification-banner__title" id="govuk-notification-banner-title">
      Important
    </h2>
  </div>
  <div class="govuk-notification-banner__content">
    <p class="govuk-notification-banner__heading">
      You have 7 days left to send your application.
      <a class="govuk-notification-banner__link" href="#">View application</a>.
    </p>
  </div>
</div>
Nunjucks
Nunjucks macro options

Use options to customise the appearance, content and behaviour of a component when using a macro, for example, changing the text.

Some options are required for the macro to work; these are marked as "Required" in the option description.

If you're using Nunjucks macros in production with "html" options, or ones ending with "html", you must sanitise the HTML to protect against cross-site scripting exploits.

Primary options
Name Type Description
text string Required. The text that displays in the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. If you set html, this option is not required and is ignored.
html string Required. The HTML to use within the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. If you set html, text is not required and is ignored.
titleText string The title text that displays in the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. Use this option to set text that does not contain HTML. The available default values are 'Important', 'Success', and null:
  • if you do not set type, titleText defaults to 'Important'
  • if you set type to success, titleText defaults to 'Success'
  • if you set titleHtml, this option is ignored
titleHtml string The title HTML to use within the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. Use this option to set text that contains HTML. If you set titleHtml, the titleText option is ignored.
titleHeadingLevel string Sets heading level for the title only. You can only use values between 1 and 6 with this option. The default is 2.
type string The type of notification to render. You can use only the success or null values with this option. If you set type to success, the notification banner sets role to alert. JavaScript then moves the keyboard focus to the notification banner when the page loads. If you do not set type, the notification banner sets role to region.
role string Overrides the value of the role attribute for the notification banner. Defaults to region. If you set type to success, role defaults to alert.
titleId string The id for the banner title, and the aria-labelledby attribute in the banner. Defaults to govuk-notification-banner-title.
disableAutoFocus boolean If you set type to success, or role to alert, JavaScript moves the keyboard focus to the notification banner when the page loads. To disable this behaviour, set disableAutoFocus to true.
classes string The classes that you want to add to the notification banner.
attributes object The HTML attributes that you want to add to the notification banner, for example, data attributes. 
{% from "govuk/components/notification-banner/macro.njk" import govukNotificationBanner %}

{% set html %}
  <p class="govuk-notification-banner__heading">
    You have 7 days left to send your application.
    <a class="govuk-notification-banner__link" href="#">View application</a>.
  </p>
{% endset %}

{{ govukNotificationBanner({
  html: html
}) }}

Reacting to something the user has done

You can also use a notification banner to tell the user about the outcome of something they’ve just done - but they haven’t finished using the service, so it doesn’t make sense to use a confirmation page.

Using a notification banner is unlikely to be the right approach in a linear service - for example, a service that lets the user register or apply for a thing. For a linear service, it will usually make sense to stick to the ‘one thing per page’ approach. Don’t use a notification banner to tell users that they’ve finished using a linear service. Use a confirmation page instead.

Use the green version of the notification banner to confirm that something they’re expecting to happen has happened.

Open this success banner – notification banner example in a new tab
HTML
<div class="govuk-notification-banner govuk-notification-banner--success" role="alert" aria-labelledby="govuk-notification-banner-title" data-module="govuk-notification-banner">
  <div class="govuk-notification-banner__header">
    <h2 class="govuk-notification-banner__title" id="govuk-notification-banner-title">
      Success
    </h2>
  </div>
  <div class="govuk-notification-banner__content">
    <p class="govuk-notification-banner__heading">Invite sent to example@department.gov.uk</p>
  </div>
</div>
Nunjucks
Nunjucks macro options

Use options to customise the appearance, content and behaviour of a component when using a macro, for example, changing the text.

Some options are required for the macro to work; these are marked as "Required" in the option description.

If you're using Nunjucks macros in production with "html" options, or ones ending with "html", you must sanitise the HTML to protect against cross-site scripting exploits.

Primary options
Name Type Description
text string Required. The text that displays in the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. If you set html, this option is not required and is ignored.
html string Required. The HTML to use within the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. If you set html, text is not required and is ignored.
titleText string The title text that displays in the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. Use this option to set text that does not contain HTML. The available default values are 'Important', 'Success', and null:
  • if you do not set type, titleText defaults to 'Important'
  • if you set type to success, titleText defaults to 'Success'
  • if you set titleHtml, this option is ignored
titleHtml string The title HTML to use within the notification banner. You can use any string with this option. Use this option to set text that contains HTML. If you set titleHtml, the titleText option is ignored.
titleHeadingLevel string Sets heading level for the title only. You can only use values between 1 and 6 with this option. The default is 2.
type string The type of notification to render. You can use only the success or null values with this option. If you set type to success, the notification banner sets role to alert. JavaScript then moves the keyboard focus to the notification banner when the page loads. If you do not set type, the notification banner sets role to region.
role string Overrides the value of the role attribute for the notification banner. Defaults to region. If you set type to success, role defaults to alert.
titleId string The id for the banner title, and the aria-labelledby attribute in the banner. Defaults to govuk-notification-banner-title.
disableAutoFocus boolean If you set type to success, or role to alert, JavaScript moves the keyboard focus to the notification banner when the page loads. To disable this behaviour, set disableAutoFocus to true.
classes string The classes that you want to add to the notification banner.
attributes object The HTML attributes that you want to add to the notification banner, for example, data attributes. 
{% from "govuk/components/notification-banner/macro.njk" import govukNotificationBanner %}

{{ govukNotificationBanner({
  text: "Invite sent to example@department.gov.uk",
  type: 'success'
}) }}

Since you’re using the notification banner to tell the user about the outcome of something they’ve just done, add role="alert" so focus shifts to the notification banner on page load.

Remove a green notification banner when the user moves to a new page.

To make the green version of the notification banner accessible:

You can add more headings if you need them. Nest headings within a notification banner as you would with any other piece of content.

Research on this component

We need more research to understand:

  • how common it is for users to miss important information in notification banners (including users of assistive technology, who might skip straight to the h1)
  • whether it’s sometimes helpful to allow users to dismiss notifications, and how to do this

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