Re: Allowing font size changes

I have stayed out of this to see our best thinkers address this problem.

Here is where I come down. Intelligent enlargement is the responsibility of
authors, user agents and operating systems.  The full capability and
granularity of  CSS 3 is really the level of access needed. It is there to
serve other design needs, why not do it to help people with disabilities.

Authors are responsible for arranging pages so that they can linearize to
fit one column so that the full width of the viewport can be used for
enlargement.  Responsive design already does this for small screens. It is
trivial to extend this authoring technique to large screens with very large
print. Many pages already do this; most will in the future; and it follows
that if this can be done to accommodate small screened mobile devices a few
more media query cases can be added to include very large font.  The answer
is quite simply, yes, authors now have the techniques needed to create
accessible page formatting. They should be required to use it. The real
guideline here is to get out of the way of assistive technologies like
assistive style sheets. Authors do not have to code accommodations, but
they do have to provide an an environment that supports them.

The UA must be supportive enabling gross parameters like base font
settings, color settings and maybe even some typographic enhancements like
letter line and word spacing. But as long as the author does the job, most
of this can be provided by AT. The main support the UA can provide is with
large print UA controls, expand/collaps large print menues and the ability
to operate without toolbars that take up too much space in LP.

The UA should always use operating system preferences when present. But
these often do not provide sufficient granularity.  For example: What font
does a UA use for a options setting dialogue? Many browsers use the OS
fonts sizes and then dialogues are impossible to use.

The point is this: The OS can forsee the least granularity. The UA can see
more. Only the author knows the structure of content. Thus, responsibility
falls most heavily on the author, then on the UA and finally on the OS.

Wayne

On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 2:34 PM, Phill Jenkins <pjenkins@us.ibm.com> wrote:

> > The OS and browser are each broken if they don't provide a way to
> increase
> > font size, and zoom - yes they are different. And both have important
> uses.
>
> I agree it is a user agent responsibility *and* an end user responsibility
> to
> know how to set the setting or have an assistant set it for them.  It is a
> lot
> easier and more efficient to set it once per browser and/or per OS
> platform
> that to try to find the yet another unique way an individual website /
> developer did it.
> Using the excuse that some browser or platforms are hard to set & use does
> not justify
> leaving it up to millions of web developers to try to figure it out.
>
> > I'm not sure there is any absolute requirement that authors add a
> > redundant shortcut to do the same,
>
> I agree, only to make sure their app doesn't break when zooming at 2X
> see WCAG 1.4.4 Resize Text
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#visual-audio-contrast-scale
>
> > but in practice it can be a useful thing for many users, especially
> given that
> > in practice many OS and browser solutions are hard to find or use.
>
> I believe it is more useful and less confusing when the audience of the
> web app is known or controlled
> and has had some training or orientation, such as employees of a company
> with a particular app,
> or when the app is being designed specifically for a group of users who
> have the same or know disability, such as
> a rehabilitation app.
>
> The advocacy effort here needs to be directed at OS platform and browser
> developers and AT developers, not web developers.
> We are starting to get good traction with the iOS and Andorid app
> developers not that so many accessibility features
> are now included in the platform.
>
> Why can't we (meaning the web accessibility community) focus on the
> handful of platform and browser developers
> and stop wasting our time and the millions of web developers time on this
> topic?
> ____________________________________________
> Regards,
> Phill Jenkins,
>
>
>
>
> From:        "Chaals McCathie Nevile" <chaals@yandex-team.ru>
> To:        w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> Date:        01/18/2016 02:00 PM
> Subject:        Re: Allowing font size changes
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
> On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 15:46:19 +0100, Patrick H. Lauke
> <redux@splintered.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > But as ever, it comes down to whose responsibility it is? Should it be
> > the content authors, or the device/OS/browser manufacturers?
>
> The OS and browser are each broken if they don't provide a way to increase
>
> font size, and zoom - yes they are different. And both have important uses.
>
> I'm not sure there is any absolute requirement that authors add a
> redundant shortcut to do the same, but in practice it can be a useful
> thing for many users, especially given that in practice many OS and
> browser soutions are hard to find or use.
>
> IMHO.
>
> chaals
>
> > P
> >
> > On 15/01/2016 14:40, ALAN SMITH wrote:
> >> Heather,
> >>
> >> I agree.
> >>
> >> Imaging having to set the volume on our devices in a settings somewhere
> >> and constantly return to that setting after we find out it is not enough
> >> or too much and not having the immediate feedback afforded by volume
> >> buttons or onscreen controls.
> >>
> >> Same should be provided for fonts.
> >>
> >> After all, the text on the web page or app is the main mode of
> >> communication or human computer interaction.
> >>
> >> It is why we use these devices anyway: to be able to read the text being
> >> used.
> >>
> >> The world population that needs this is so big.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Alan
> >>
> >> Sent from Mail <http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> >> Windows 10
> >>
> >>
> >> *From: *Durham, Heather <mailto:heather.durham@pearson.com
> <heather.durham@pearson.com>>
> >> *Sent: *Friday, January 15, 2016 9:25 AM
> >> *To: *howard_leicester@btconnect.com
> >> <mailto:howard_leicester@btconnect.com <howard_leicester@btconnect.com>
> >
> >> *Cc: *Patrick H. Lauke <mailto:redux@splintered.co.uk
> <redux@splintered.co.uk>>;
> >> w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>>
> >> *Subject: *Re: Allowing font size changes
> >>
> >> What will be the plan for the app? Will it be widely used on mobile
> >> devices? In mobile devices you can increase the font size, but it's not
> >> as convenient as in a web page. On mobile devices you need to go to the
> >> settings app and you can't see how the font size looks live as you
> >> adjust it. For people who have difficulty navigating, it could be a real
> >> convenience to tap a button to increase the font size right there in the
> >> app their using.
> >>
> >> This could also be a nice feature for other uses, such as those with
> >> autism. I attended an autism conference in the summer and this was
> >> something that was widely discussed. The convenience of reducing the
> >> number of steps to accomplish something.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> Heather
> >>
> >> On Thu, Jan 14, 2016 at 3:22 PM, Howard Leicester
> >> <howard_leicester@btconnect.com <mailto:howard_leicester@btconnect.com
> <howard_leicester@btconnect.com>>>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>     Hi P et al,
> >>
> >>     Do things really have to be so detailed and difficult?
> >>
> >>     May be there's some more fundamentally wrong in our approach?
> >>
> >>     No criticism, just a view!
> >>
> >>     VV best,
> >>     Howard (Leicester, UK).
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>     -----Original Message-----
> >>     From: Patrick H. Lauke [mailto:redux@splintered.co.uk
> <redux@splintered.co.uk>
> >>     <mailto:redux@splintered.co.uk <redux@splintered.co.uk>>]
> >>     Sent: 14 January 2016 01:23
> >>     To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
> >
> >>     Subject: Re: Allowing font size changes
> >>
> >>     On 14/01/2016 00:52, Oscar Cao wrote:
> >>     > I want to get what everyone's views are on the importance of
> >> having
> >>     > custom font size buttons for a website. You know those 3 icon
> >> buttons:
> >>     > smaller, medium, and larger.
> >>
> >>     Very low from my point of view. It's functionality built into the
> >>     browser already, so provided a site's CSS is made correctly, these
> >>     in-page controls would be redundant.
> >>
> >>     There is an argument that users simply don't know that they can
> >> resize
> >>     text/content using the browser controls - but this is more of a user
> >>     education issue that should not have to be the responsibility of
> >> content
> >>     authors. (same for in-page/custom controls to switch to high
> >> contrast
> >>     mode or similar)
> >>
> >>     P
> >>     --
> >>     Patrick H. Lauke
> >>
> >>     www.splintered.co.uk <http://www.splintered.co.uk> |
> >>     https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> >>     http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
> >>     twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >> Heather Durham
> >>
> >> Accessibility SQA, HEd
> >>
> >> Pearson North America
> >>
> >> 2154 East Commons Ave.
> >>
> >> Suite 4000
> >>
> >> Centennial, CO
> >>
> >> 80122
> >>
> >> USA
> >>
> >> *Pearson *
> >>
> >> Always Learning
> >> Learn more at www.pearson.com <http://www.pearson.com/>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Charles McCathie Nevile - web standards - CTO Office, Yandex
>  chaals@yandex-team.ru - - - Find more at http://yandex.com
>
>
>
>