[Bug 19049] New: Provide access to global accessibility settings

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=19049

           Summary: Provide access to global accessibility settings
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: All
        OS/Version: All
            Status: NEW
          Keywords: a11y, a11ytf
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: HTML5 spec
        AssignedTo: dave.null@w3.org
        ReportedBy: contributor@whatwg.org
         QAContact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: mike@w3.org, laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com,
                    public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org,
                    public-html@w3.org, annevk@annevk.nl, cooper@w3.org,
                    public-html-a11y@w3.org, eoconnor@apple.com


This was was cloned from bug 13619 as part of operation LATER convergence.
Originally filed: 2011-08-03 18:32:00 +0000
Original reporter: Greg Lowney <gcl-0039@access-research.org>

================================================================================
 #0   Greg Lowney                                     2011-08-03 18:32:02 +0000 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HTML5 should define a standard, platform-independent way for content to query
the user agent's accessibility settings, and by extension platform settings
that are known to the user agent. This is one aspect of allowing HTML-based
content and applications provide accessibility support equal to and consistent
with the platform and native applications, and can avoid situations where their
default settings make HTML-based applications inaccessible.

We note there are privacy concerns that must be addressed. For example,
companies should not be able to infer the disabilities of visitors to their web
site by querying the user's accessibility settings. However, this is just one
example of a broader issue that needs to be addressed, and is covered by bug
13617. 

Use case: Yev turns on his operating system's High Contrast option. This option
is supported by all major operating systems and tells software the user wants
high contrast between foreground and background. In his browser he loads a
web-based flow chart editor that displays all its document content in an HTML5
canvas element. The flow chart editor wants to detect when the user has high
contrast mode turned on so it can adjust its graphical display appropriately.
Because it's designed to run on any browser and any operating system, it needs
a platform-independent means of querying this setting.

Use case: Amanda has turned on the "Show Extra Keyboard Help" option in the
Windows Control Panel, which tells all software that she wants any and all
options that enhance keyboard access to be automatically enabled. Her web
browser responds to this setting by, for example, always displaying the
underlined access keys in menu and control labels. She would like web pages and
web apps to also respond to this setting, even if they're creating custom
controls.
================================================================================
 #2   Anne                                            2011-08-15 16:33:00 +0000 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDITOR'S RESPONSE: This is an Editor's Response to your comment. If you are
satisfied with this response, please change the state of this bug to CLOSED. If
you have additional information and would like the editor to reconsider, please
reopen this bug. If you would like to escalate the issue to the full HTML
Working Group, please add the TrackerRequest keyword to this bug, and suggest
title and text for the tracker issue; or you may create a tracker issue
yourself, if you are able to do so. For more details, see this document:
<http://dev.w3.org/html5/decision-policy/decision-policy.html>.

Status: Rejected
Change Description: no spec change
Rationale: This is out of scope for HTML.
================================================================================
 #3   Michael Cooper                                  2012-01-11 18:53:08 +0000 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bug triage sub-team changing resolution from invalid to later. We see this as a
feature request. We're not sure if this should be dealt with by HTML, WebApps,
or another entity. But the accessibility community would like to take this up
further down the road, so for the moment marking the bug as later and not
moving to another product yet seems to make sense.
================================================================================

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Received on Tuesday, 25 September 2012 22:01:26 UTC