Re: Roll-up captions in WebVTT

On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 8:22 PM, Silvia Pfeiffer
<silviapfeiffer1@gmail.com>wrote:

> I am here and being paid by Google's accessibility team to make sure
> this use case is supported for our YouTube captions, because we need
> it. I've listed our use cases. What more do you want me to say?
>

The use cases are disputed, but I'm trying to avoid replying to them just
because it's mostly all been discussed already.  The only argument I think
might have merit is the claim that lots of people want it, but the data for
that--the claim that around 50% of people want roll-ups--needs
examination.  (Subtitles and captions on every DVD and Blu-ray are pop-on;
SRT, SSA and ASS subtitles are all pop-on; and I've spent a good deal of
time talking about subtitled media--and yet I've never once heard anybody
going "I wish these subtitles were roll-up, it's so much easier to read".
That's why I, at least, will take some convincing to believe there's really
significant demand for it from users.)

What about explicitly positioned cues, e.g. underneath a certain
> person and the desire to have captions scrolling there?
>

This sounds like a third mode, separate from both roll-up and pop-on
captions.  I'm not sure how (or if) they'd fit together.  It raises a huge
new set of questions.  (What happens if the subject is moving around the
frame?  What if two subjects with active captions cross each other in the
frame?  Does this mean three user options--pop-on, roll-up and
follows-the-speaker?  Can this be done in a way that will consistently work
for all user preferences, eg. if a user wants roll-up and it's authored for
follow?)  I'm afraid of the discussion spiraling out of control if we start
considering this...

-- 
Glenn Maynard