Re: draft response to virtual keyboard issue discussed at April 6 meeting

Sure, Matthew, and moving this draft to public-apa, as it's a group CfC
we're contemplating ...


My comment is that our concerns are not limited to what WCAG might
define. Referencing WCAG only bolsters our point, which is that we are
seeking to avoid accessibility clashes among W3C specifications.

Matthew Atkinson writes:
> P.S. Do we also want to make the point that if there is content behind the virtual keyboard, screen reader users may be able to access it too, without the screen scrolling, and that might be bad for people who're using the screen reader to read what they see on the screen? (I don't think this is a WCAG fail, but it's a big deal for people who'd be affected).
> 
> Once again, thanks for catching this and bringing it up today.
> 
> -- 
> Matthew Tylee Atkinson (he/him)
> --
> Senior Accessibility Engineer
> TPG Interactive
> https://www.tpgi.com
> A Vispero Company
> https://www.vispero.com
> --
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> 
> On 06/04/2022, 17:28, "Matthew Atkinson" <matkinson@tpgi.com> wrote:
> 
>     Thanks Becky, I think this is great. I do want to have a bit more of a look at the spec, but as I understand it, the virtual keyboard is an OS-level control/view/window, and not something that has been placed in the DOM (this does seem to match the spec, as I've skimmed it). In that case, I think what you have is great.
> 
>     I'm not 100% sure that trapping focus inside an element (I suppose you mean like a <textarea> or full-on rich-text editor) whilst the virtual keyboard is visible is OK per WCAG. I am slightly concerned about this, as we would have to be sure that there was a method to dismiss the virtual keyboard that is accessible to the user. Even if the OS is managing this, I am not sure if it can be considered out-of-scope for WCAG, but this is a relatively minor point on what you have written, and perhaps once I've looked in more detail at the spec, and the Understanding docs, I'll grok it.
> 
>     In order to avoid me being a bottleneck, should we put this to CfC on the APA list, and I could raise that question there (if you think it's a valid question)?
> 
>     Thanks again!
> 
>     Best regards,
> 
> 
>     Matthew
>     -- 
>     Matthew Tylee Atkinson (he/him)
>     --
>     Senior Accessibility Engineer
>     TPG Interactive
>     https://www.tpgi.com
>     A Vispero Company
>     https://www.vispero.com
>     --
>     This message is intended to be confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message from your system and notify us immediately.
>     Any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken or omitted to be taken by an unintended recipient in reliance on this message is prohibited and may be unlawful.
> 
>     On 06/04/2022, 16:48, "Becky Gibson" <gibson.becky@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>         CAUTION: This email originated outside Vispero. Do not click links, open attachments or forward unless you recognize the sender.
> 
>         Sent to apa chairs (since I still have access). Can post to the apa list if preferred. This can probably use some wordsmithing.
> 
>         Virtual Keyboard
> 
>         APA Filed Github issue:  https://github.com/w3c/virtual-keyboard/issues/15
>         Github issue referenced: https://github.com/w3c/virtual-keyboard/issues/5  
>         Specification - Virtual Keyboard APA: https://w3c.github.io/virtual-keyboard/
> 
> 
> 
>         The APA working group discussed this during our April 6, 2022 call.  Success criterion 2.4.7 visible focus of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 does cover the general situation.  Focus on actionable items must always be visible as the user navigates the page.  Thus, any component that occludes (or renders not visible) focus would be a violation.  The APA working group is concerned that the virtual keyboard specification must not advocate any technology that could violate WCAG. It should contain inforation about proper use of virtual keyboards to ensure items are visible to users when they receive focus.  It is not an issue if focus is trapped within another component while the virtual keyboard is visible. If the keyboard is removed when focus is no longer trapped, additional items that may have been covered by the keyboard can now recieve focus and be visible. It is also not an issue if when the virtual keyboard is displayed, items that recieve focus are scrolled into view. 
> 
>         APA Filed Github issue:  https://github.com/w3c/virtual-keyboard/issues/15
>         Github issue referenced: https://github.com/w3c/virtual-keyboard/issues/5  
>         Specification - Virtual Keyboard APA: https://w3c.github.io/virtual-keyboard/
> 
> 
> 
>         Becky Gibson
>         https://www.linkedin.com/in/beckygibsona11y/
> 
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-- 

Janina Sajka
(she/her/hers)
https://linkedin.com/in/jsajka

Linux Foundation Fellow
Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Co-Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures http://www.w3.org/wai/apa

Received on Wednesday, 6 April 2022 16:47:05 UTC