Providing User Feedback and Notifications

This skill implements comprehensive feedback and notification systems that enhance all other component skills by providing consistent patterns for communicating system state, displaying messages, and handling user confirmations.

When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when:

• Implementing toast notifications or snackbars
• Displaying success, error, warning, or info messages
• Creating modal dialogs or confirmation dialogs
• Implementing progress indicators (spinners, progress bars, skeleton screens)
• Designing empty states or zero-result displays
• Adding tooltips or contextual help
• Determining notification timing, stacking, or positioning
• Implementing accessible feedback patterns with ARIA
• Communicating any system state to users

Feedback Type Decision Matrix

Choose the appropriate feedback mechanism based on urgency and attention requirements:

Critical + Blocking       → Modal Dialog
Important + Non-blocking  → Alert Banner
Success/Info + Temporary  → Toast/Snackbar
Contextual Help          → Tooltip/Popover
In-progress              → Progress Indicator
No Data                  → Empty State

Quick Reference by Urgency

Implementation Approach

Step 1: Determine Feedback Type

Assess the situation using these criteria:

1. Urgency: How critical is the information?
2. Duration: How long should it persist?
3. Action Required: Does user need to respond?
4. Context: Is it related to specific UI element?

Step 2: Choose Implementation Pattern

For Toasts/Snackbars:

• Position: Bottom-right (recommended)
• Duration: 3-4s (success), 5-7s (warning), 7-10s (error)
• Stack limit: 3-5 maximum
• See references/toast-patterns.md for detailed patterns

For Modal Dialogs:

• Focus management: Trap focus within modal
• Accessibility: ESC to close, proper ARIA labels
• Backdrop: Click outside to close (optional)
• See references/modal-patterns.md for implementation

For Progress Indicators:

• <100ms: No indicator needed
• 100ms-5s: Spinner with message
• 5s-30s: Progress bar (determinate if possible)
• >30s: Progress bar + time estimate + cancel
• See references/progress-indicators.md for patterns

For Empty States:

• Include: Illustration, headline, body text, CTA
• Types: First use, zero results, error, permission denied
• See references/empty-states.md for designs

Step 3: Implement with Recommended Libraries

Modern React Stack (Recommended):

npm install sonner @radix-ui/react-dialog

For Toasts - Use Sonner:

import { Toaster, toast } from 'sonner';

// In your app root
<Toaster position="bottom-right" />

// Trigger notifications
toast.success('Changes saved successfully');
toast.promise(saveData(), {
  loading: 'Saving...',
  success: 'Saved!',
  error: 'Failed to save'
});

For Modals - Use Radix UI:

import * as Dialog from '@radix-ui/react-dialog';

<Dialog.Root>
  <Dialog.Trigger>Open</Dialog.Trigger>
  <Dialog.Portal>
    <Dialog.Overlay />
    <Dialog.Content>
      <Dialog.Title>Confirm Action</Dialog.Title>
      <Dialog.Description>Are you sure?</Dialog.Description>
      <Dialog.Close>Cancel</Dialog.Close>
    </Dialog.Content>
  </Dialog.Portal>
</Dialog.Root>

See references/library-comparison.md for alternative libraries and selection criteria.

Step 4: Apply Accessibility Patterns

ARIA Live Regions for Announcements:

<!-- For non-critical notifications -->
<div role="status" aria-live="polite">
  File uploaded successfully
</div>

<!-- For critical alerts -->
<div role="alert" aria-live="assertive">
  Error: Failed to save
</div>

Focus Management for Modals:

1. Save current focus before opening
2. Move focus to first interactive element in modal
3. Trap focus within modal (Tab cycles)
4. Restore focus to trigger on close

See references/accessibility-feedback.md for complete patterns.

Step 5: Integrate Design Tokens

All feedback components use the design-tokens skill for consistent theming:

/* Example token usage */
.toast {
  background: var(--toast-bg);
  color: var(--toast-text);
  padding: var(--toast-padding);
  border-radius: var(--toast-border-radius);
  box-shadow: var(--toast-shadow);
  animation-duration: var(--toast-enter-duration);
}

Token categories used:

• Colors: Toast, alert, modal, tooltip backgrounds
• Spacing: Internal padding for all components
• Typography: Font sizes for titles and messages
• Shadows: Elevation for floating elements
• Motion: Animation durations and easing

Notification Timing Guidelines

Auto-dismiss durations:

• Success: 3-4 seconds
• Info: 4-5 seconds
• Warning: 5-7 seconds
• Error: 7-10 seconds or manual dismiss
• With action button: 10+ seconds or no auto-dismiss

Progress indicator thresholds:

• <100ms: No indicator
• 100ms-5s: Spinner
• 5s-30s: Progress bar
• >30s: Progress bar + cancel option

Resources

Scripts (Token-Free Execution)

• scripts/generate_toast_manager.js - Generate toast configurations with timing and stacking
• scripts/format_messages.py - Format user-facing messages based on context
• scripts/calculate_timing.js - Calculate auto-dismiss timings

References (Detailed Documentation)

• references/toast-patterns.md - Toast positioning, stacking, animations
• references/alert-patterns.md - Alert banner implementations
• references/modal-patterns.md - Modal dialogs with focus management
• references/progress-indicators.md - Loading states and progress
• references/empty-states.md - No-data and zero-result patterns
• references/accessibility-feedback.md - ARIA patterns and focus management
• references/library-comparison.md - Detailed library analysis

Examples (Implementation Code)

• examples/success-toast.tsx - Success notification with Sonner
• examples/confirmation-modal.tsx - Delete confirmation with Radix UI
• examples/progress-upload.tsx - File upload with progress bar
• examples/inline-validation.tsx - Form validation errors

Assets (Templates and Configs)

• assets/message-templates.json - Reusable message templates
• assets/error-catalog.json - Error code to message mappings
• assets/timing-config.json - Timing recommendations

Cross-Skill Integration

This skill enhances all other component skills:

• Forms: Validation feedback, success confirmations
• Data Visualization: Loading states, error messages
• Tables: Bulk operation feedback, action confirmations
• AI Chat: Streaming indicators, rate limit warnings
• Dashboards: Widget loading, system status
• Search/Filter: Zero results, search progress
• Media: Upload progress, processing status
• Design Tokens: All visual styling via token system

Library Quick Comparison

Choose based on project requirements. See references/library-comparison.md for detailed analysis.

Key Principles

1. Match urgency to attention: Don't use modals for non-critical info
2. Be consistent: Same feedback type for similar actions
3. Provide context: Explain what happened and what to do
4. Enable recovery: Include undo, retry, or help options
5. Respect preferences: Honor reduced motion settings
6. Test accessibility: Verify with screen readers and keyboard