Banner Promo
Banner Promos promote important or highly searched information with short text and a call to action. Messaging should be marketing driven and promotional. Instructional messaging should use an Alert style.
Dos
Use for high-priority, promotional messaging
Use to drive users to frequently visited or searched pages
Don'ts
Don’t group multiple banner promos close together. Ideally, they should be at least a screen height apart
Don’t use with lots of text
Variations
- Choose color options based on the design theme of the website and intent of messaging.
- Yellow option assumes a strong/important call to action.
Content Recommendations
Recommended character limits
Title
32 characters (64 max)
Text Block
250 characters (500 max)
Accessibility
Keyboard Accessible
Users are able to use the keyboard to navigate through focusable content using the ‘Tab’ key to navigate/focus and ‘Enter’ or ‘Spacebar’ to activate and focus can be moved away from the component. WCAG 2.1.1: Keyboard; WCAG 2.1.2: No Keyboard Trap This navigation is done in sequential and logical order. WCAG 2.4.3: Focus Order
Hover and Focus State
Actionable items each have distinctive styling on hover/focus to provide a visual cue to the user that the element is focused and there is an action that can be taken. WCAG 1.4.13: Content on hover or focus
Color Contrast
A contrast ratio of at least 4:5:1 between text and background color is ensured to enhance readability WCAG 1.4.3: Contrast (minimum)
Responsive
The component scales in relation to the to the screen size to prevent truncating content and reflows properly when zoomed up to 200% without horizontal scrolling WCAG 1.4.10: Reflow
Title
Use a clear and concise title that describes the alert content. WCAG 2.4.6: Headings and Labels
Body Text
Write body text in clear and simple language. Avoid jargon, idioms, or complex language structures. WCAG: 3.1.5: Reading Level Use descriptive link text for any inline links within the alert. The link text should clearly indicate the destination or action. WCAG 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context)
Link
Use effective text to describe what the link is and where it is taking the user. This should be clear, descriptive text that conveys the link content succinctly and the purpose and destination of the link. WCAG 2.4.9: Link Purpose (Link Only)
- Example of effective text (preferred): View full profile of Michael John Smith
- Example of generic text (avoid): View more
Disclaimer: If the visible link text is not sufficiently descriptive, you can use an aria-label attribute to provide additional context for screen reader users. The aria-label should clearly describe the link's purpose and destination.
- If the visible text is not necessary for screen readers (e.g., it's redundant or less descriptive), consider using aria-hidden="true" on the visible text element. This ensures that screen readers will prioritize the aria-label.
Example with aria-label and aria-hidden:
<a href="https://example.com/innovate-maryland" aria-label="Learn more about Innovate Maryland"> <span aria-hidden="true">Learn more</span> </a>
This ensures that the link is accessible while maintaining concise visible text.
Layout
- This component is highly flexible. Use the title and text block together, or choose only one of them.
- Call to action button and seal are optional.