Re: Fwd: Re: WCAG 2.2 status - Visual indicators

Thanks Rachael

For those wanting to explore this more the SC proposal is here

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WhZAbswvPHs7A3stfqM_ATsaBHPeGbHtARcmaKMck1U/edit?usp=sharing

and the text is

"Each active user interface component provides a visual indicator which 
conveys its purpose. Where the visual indicator is a underline or an 
outline shape, the visual indicator has a contrast ratio of 3:1 with at 
least one adjacent color."

This is certainly an important cognitive accessibility concern and 
overlaps with [at least] these Patterns

* Make it clear what are controls and how they should be used
* Support personalization of symbols and controls

But as Alastair points out

"we would have to be able
to answer the question “What is an appropriate visual indicator?” for
any user-interface control."

The tension is in ensuring we can define suitable indicators that are 
clear to everyone and yet allowing designers free choice that does not 
limit the required accessibility. If we are too prescriptive we will get 
a lot of push back and miss the intent. If we are to relaxed there is a 
danger the intent of the SC is subverted. Tricky.

This question is somewhat an open ended and general across Patterns and 
cognitive SCs as they impact content design. Another broad question is 
what should be explicitly covered by an SC and what is best moved to 
personalisation, perhaps with an outline in SC itself. This uncertainty 
is raised in this SC text.

These questions are likely to require significant discussion before 
distillation into an firm SC. We may need a lot of examples to ensure we 
have all cases covered if we cannot find a simple way to define for all 
controls.

So unless we can easily answer Alastair's question or avoid it by 
invoking personalisation with some clearly defined limits for this SC I 
think the 2.2 timescales is going to be very hard to meet.

Can anyone think of a way to resolve this?

Steve

On 13/01/2020 12:25, Rachael Montgomery wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am sending this thread from the main WCAG mailing list because it 
> relates to an SC that COGA has been supporting. The SC was not in the 
> original set that we proposed but came up as an important gap during 
> conversations.
> 
> Please weigh in on Alistair’s point about moving it out of 2.2 for 
> continued discussion.  You can respond on the COGA list and I’ll 
> aggregate responses. You can also respond directly on the AG email chain.
> 
> Rachael
> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> *From:* Alastair Campbell <acampbell@nomensa.com>
> *Date:* Jan 13, 2020, 5:05 AM -0500
> *To:* WCAG list <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
> *Cc:* Newton, Brooks (TR Product) <Brooks.Newton@thomsonreuters.com>
> *Subject:* Re: WCAG 2.2 status - Visual indicators
> 
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> Brooks left  a comment on the examples doc 
>> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fw8C-uHkPzI9IH4wWXdzjRmyfxTHNIYX3vk62Xsph4M/edit#heading=h.ck57f2kxzytg> 
>> for visual indicators that I thought worth discussing more widely:
>>
>> > “I don't like being forced to judge the efficacy of the visual indication, based on whether or not the control passes the current wording of the draft SC. I think we need to spend a lot more time discussing the issues at play with a broad range of interface controls that working group members identify as having problematic visual affordances.
>>
>> > Let's do that example gathering and review, before we create draft SC text to frame up the issues that surface through the review. I have already provided a number of very good examples, which I distributed to the working group through email. Having to re-enter those examples into this format which forces a false examination against draft SC text that was written without consideration of the examples in mind doesn't make sense to me.”
>>
>> If others feel similarly, then this is an indicator we should take 
>> this SC out of the WCAG 2.2 slot.
>>
>> We do need examples, and this is a very worthwhile exercise, but if we 
>> are not at the stage of refining SC wording then it is not an exercise 
>> that will fit in the WCAG 2.2 timeline.
>>
>> In any guidelines scenario (including Silver) we would have to be able 
>> to answer the question “What is an appropriate visual indicator?” for 
>> any user-interface control. If we cannot reliably answer that, then I 
>> suggest we put this as a research topic to tackle after WCAG 2.2, 
>> probably on the Silver timeline:
>>
>> https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wiki/Research_needed
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> -Alastair
>>

Received on Monday, 13 January 2020 13:10:07 UTC