- From: Peter Korn <peter.korn@oracle.com>
- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2012 13:37:13 -0700
- To: Gregg Vanderheiden <gv@trace.wisc.edu>
- CC: public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org
- Message-ID: <4FDF9179.80909@oracle.com>
Hi Gregg, Andi, all,
Early in our work (and in Oracle's response to the ANPRM), I've said
that that I don't think we can find a single concept/term that can
substitute for "web page" (and "web pages") everywhere. In one of our
first meetings I suggested that we revisit the term question after we've
walked through all of the provisions, as we will then see what might
make sense.
BUT... at the pace we are going, if we don't try to find ways of
accelerating our work we may not finish our first draft on time
(already in doubt even with significant acceleration). And... perhaps
even if we can't find a single term that works everywhere, perhaps it
works in enough places as to be useful, and we simply have exceptions
(like irregular verbs) where we have a longer or otherwise different
"applying" text for the SC.
While it is important to develop language that isn't tied to the GUI, I
think it is very instructive to look closely at the WIMP GUI (WIMP =
WIndows Mouse Pointer). Because if we can't get something that works
there, I doubt we can get something that works more generally.
We've had various proposals for language - "interaction context",
"context of interaction", and the more GUI-specific "active window" /
"active viewport". I propose that we see if we can agree on an a list
of those things in the GUI what would be (and what would NOT be) an
"interaction context". THEN to see whether that list of things can
reasonably stand in for "web page" (and "set of web pages") in (enough
of) the various provisions that use that term. If that works, we might
then see if we can generalize this beyond the WIMP GUI.
The sense that I get of what the "core" of this idea is of these various
term/definition proposals, is that it is that portion of the UI that a
user can interact with at this time - with perhaps an artificial
exclusion of other programs that can also be interacted with directly
(e.g. a modal dialog box is an interaction context, though the user can
directly and immediately interact with a different application not
connected with that modal dialog - or with aspects of the OS - without
thereby pulling in the entire OS into the notion of "interaction context").
OK, so here's a brainstorm proposed enumeration of what IS an
interaction context within the WIMP GUI:
* A window, or dialog box (with or without a title) - most commonly
the top-most or "current" window - along with anything else outside
of that window that belongs to the same application and a user can
directly interact (e.g. the menu bar on the top of the screen of a
Macintosh)
And things that are NOT an interaction context within the WIMP GUI:
* A menu bar, a menu
* A toolbar
* A pane of a window (e.g. in a split view or a side-by-side compare
of two documents)
* A list box
* A single pane in a tab panel
* The entire collection of tabs in a tab panel
And here are things that I'm really not sure about:
* The Windows Explorer Taskbar. Is this like the menu bar of the
Macintosh UI - outside of the (Folder / drive) Windows but part of
the Windows Explorer process and therefore a constant adjunct to the
Explorer windows? Or are those OS-level toolbars their own
"interaction contexts" - since they aren't really tied to the
Windows and in fact are nearly always active nearly all the time?
* The Macintosh Dock. Same comment as Windows Taskbar above...
[Also, we may need to reconcile that a web browser is software, yet by
this definition both a portion of the web browser window - the web page
- and the entire window, are both an "interaction context". Is that a
problem?]
OK, so how would this division of what is/is not an "interaction
context" work as a "web page" and "set of web pages" substitution for
various SC?
* *"1.4.2 Audio Control:* If any audio on a /*Web page */plays
automatically for more than 3 seconds, either a mechanism
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#mechanismdef> is available to pause or
stop the audio, or a mechanism is available to control audio volume
independently from the overall system volume level. (Level A)"
Since we care about audio accessibility issues all the time, we need
to make sure that everything within the WIMP GUI is contained within
an "interaction context". So we therefore must include "the
desktop" as an additional case (not all UIs place the desktop
formally in its own "window"). This concern likewise appears for
2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap (we don't want a focus keyboard trap to be OK
on the desktop), 2.2.2 Pause, Stop Hide, etc. etc.
* *"2.4.1 Bypass Blocks:* A mechanism
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#mechanismdef> is available to bypass
blocks of content that are repeated on multiple Web pages
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#webpagedef>. (Level A)"
Here is the first place where we encounter the plural. We also
encounter a situation where what is stated in the Intent for the SC
isn't well met by a simple substitution. So here is a provision
where I think we greatly benefit by moving away from a strict
language substitution, and treat it differently (as I have tried to
do with Proposal #3 at
https://sites.google.com/site/wcag2ict/home/2-operable/24-provide-ways-to-help-users-navigate-find-content-and-determine-where-they-are/241-bypass-blocks
and which Gregg has further polished and shortened).
* "*2.4.2 Page Titled:* Web pages
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#webpagedef> have titles that describe
topic or purpose. (Level A)"
Do we feel that in fact a title is truly needed for everything that
is an "interaction context"? Does the main Windows Explorer Taskbar
- the one that contains the "Start menu", need a title? What about
modal dialogs that don't have a title bar - would they all be
non-compliant? Or is Proposal #2 at
https://sites.google.com/site/wcag2ict/home/2-operable/24-provide-ways-to-help-users-navigate-find-content-and-determine-where-they-are/242-page-titled
enough of an "out" - that the "first words they contain" be the
title. And if we go with that proposal, then does the word "Start"
in the Windows Explorer Taskbar satisfy this? Does the Macintosh
Dock fail to meet 2.4.2 because there is no text in the Dock? If
so, do we feel that failing the Dock is in keeping with the Intent
of 2.4.2? The Dock, after all, isn't filled with content and the
context of the Dock makes it's meaning clear... Also, there is
position information in the GUI that is very different from the web
- where each web page appears in the same place in the GUI - within
the content region of your browser window...
My feeling is that "interaction context" is a poor substitute for
web page" in 2.4.2 - as it also is with 2.4.1. This SC is an
"irregular verb" that we just need to deal with separately, relying
more on the Intent language.
* *"2.4.3 Focus Order:* If a Web page
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#webpagedef> can be navigated
sequentially <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#nav-seqdef> and the
navigation sequences affect meaning or operation, focusable
components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and
operability. (Level A)"
Again I think we can't go the substitution route here, as much of
the desktop GUI is reachable outside of a simple focus order (e.g.
the menu bar is outside of the focus order; you only read it by
going directly to it - from anywhere else - and not by TABbing
around the UI until you reach it in a specific place in the order).
Alternately... do we take the out that the WIMP GUI isn't something
"designed to be navigated sequentially"? [I must say, the
Mathematician in me recoils at that notion, given a deep proof in
number theory and topology that any finite field can be ordered
sequentially - as well as a number of infinite ones]. Of course,
some AT (e.g. outSPOKEN for Macintosh, VoiceOver for iOS) impose
their own sequential navigation whether one was designed or not,
which shows the intellectual limitations of that "out" [and also
provide a demonstration of the mathematical proof within the GUI]
* *"2.4.5 Multiple Ways:* More than one way is available to locate a
Web page <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#webpagedef> within a set of Web
pages <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#set-of-web-pagesdef> except where
the Web Page is the result of, or a step in, a process
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#processdef>. (Level AA)"
This is the second place where we get the plural, with I think a
similar problem (as with 2.4.1). What is the boundaries of a "set
of interaction contexts" - when are they in the same set and when
not? Since the Intent spells out
I'm going to stop here; I don't want this e-mail to become an SC-by-SC
review - we already have that process.
But at least for me, going this far in the process shows that: (a) it
is possible to have a term that has a consistent and useful meaning
within the WIMP GUI, and I suspect within software UIs generally; (b)
such a term can work as an effective stand-in for "web page" in enough
provisions as to be useful; (c) we have a bunch of "irregular verbs"
that we will simply have to deal with on their own and not try to force
a "web page" language substitution on them; and finally (d) anything
with the plural "web pages" is a strong candidate for being an irregular
verb.
Peter
On 6/18/2012 12:27 PM, Gregg Vanderheiden wrote:
> How about the following as something to consider - work from
>
> Two words or a LOT of words. But someone said (Bruce I think) that
> substituted many words for a few to get transparency. This is many
> more but...
>
> give it a look
> give it a think
>
> comments welcome
>
>
>
> PROPOSAL
>
>
> blah blah ......replacing the term */Web Page/* by the term
> "*/interaction context/*" _or by the definition_ */"the current set
> of input and output elements, intended by an author to be available at
> one time to the user, for the user to see, hear, feel or act on, where
> the set is limited to those elements that are present if the user does
> not act other than simple navigation among the elements"/*.
>
>
> */Set of Web page/*s currently defined in WCAG as
>
> *Set of Web Pages*
> collection of Web pages
> <http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#webpagedef> that share a common
> purpose and that are created by the same author, group or organization
> /Note: /Different language versions would be considered different
> sets of Web pages.//
>
>
> and it becomes quite logically
>
> *Set of Interaction Contexts*
> collection of interaction contexts that share a common purpose and
> that are created by the same author, group or organization
> /Note: /Different language versions would be considered different sets
> of interaction contexts.
>
>
> The one problem I did see was that you can navigate among a set of
> open windows from many different applications.
> So that is why the "author intent" clause is there above -- since
> authors have no control over what all windows you have open. and we
> need to keep the user from navigating among contexts and have the
> grand sum of all open windows constitute the context.
>
>
> /Gregg/
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.
> Director Trace R&D Center
> Professor Industrial & Systems Engineering
> and Biomedical Engineering
> University of Wisconsin-Madison
>
> Co-Director, Raising the Floor - International
> and the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure Project
> http://Raisingthefloor.org --- http://GPII.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
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Peter Korn | Accessibility Principal
Phone: +1 650 5069522 <tel:+1%20650%205069522>
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Received on Monday, 18 June 2012 20:37:56 UTC