- From: John Foliot <jfoliot@stanford.edu>
- Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2009 11:20:20 -0700 (PDT)
- To: <robert@ocallahan.org>
- Cc: "'Ian Hickson'" <ian@hixie.ch>, "'public-html'" <public-html@w3.org>
Robert O'Callahan wrote: > > ATs should just be able to prevent autoplay, or delay > it, or whatever. In fact in Firefox we have a hidden > pref to disable autoplay. There is no need to disrecommend > use of autoplay by authors. OK, so now I am very confused. Are you suggesting then that for all users who do not use Adaptive Technology should just suck it in and settle for author whims re: auto-start. Or spend time and effort hunting down a "hidden pref" to disable this cruft? (I do not use AT, yet would love to be able to set this to "off" - or is it only a feature available to Persons with disabilities {PWD}?) In the extremely contentious HTML5 Design Principles [http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-html-design-principles-20071126/], they state that the end user is supreme ("3.2. Priority of Constituencies: In case of conflict, consider users over authors over implementors over specifiers over theoretical purity."), and the general thrust moving forward is that the authors don't want to do stuff exclusively for one user-group (PWD) but rather: "Features should be designed for universal access.", yet now you are saying that this should be relegated to AT. FAIL There is plenty of reason to 'disrecommend' auto-start: * "author proposes, user disposes" (W4A 2006 Keynote Address) www.w4a.info/2006/presentations/09-Rhys-Lewis/09-Rhys-Lewis.html * WCAG2 states: "3.2.5 Change on Request: Changes of context are initiated only by user request or a mechanism is available to turn off such changes." (No mention of AT here BTW) in conjunction with: "2.2.1 Timing Adjustable: For each time limit that is set by the content, at least one of the following is true: (Level A) Turn off: The user is allowed to turn off the time limit before encountering it;" Note: This success criterion helps ensure that users can complete tasks without unexpected changes in content or context that are a result of a time limit. (JF notes that auto-start has no "before" state) http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20 * Section 508 states: "Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards." (In other words, if a user is already using their audio-card/application to run, say a screen reader, then the page content should not interfere with that previously launched application) http://section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Software * #10. If you use music on your site make sure the user can stop it, and it BETTER NOT start on page load without the user requesting it. Same goes for video with audio (*cough ESPN *cough), many web users surf from work and don’t enjoy their speakers lighting up with your horrible and intrusive taste in music while their boss roams the halls looking for some ass to bust. http://www.josiahcole.com/2007/02/14/a-webmasters-19-commandments/ Conversely, can you point to any resource that demonstrates reasons why we should recommend using auto-start? JF
Received on Saturday, 6 June 2009 18:21:03 UTC