Re: What is "mobile" (was Re: Fwd: Screen Reader Audio on Mobile)

On 06/10/2015 19:11, Richards, Jan wrote:
> Hi Patrick,
>
> While I completely agree that there is nothing fundamentally unique
> to mobile on the list, I think it's too far to say, as you suggest,
> that "the note should clarify that indeed there is no such thing as
> "mobile"

Maybe in not so many words, but I'd say it needs to strongly convey that 
individual characteristics covered by the extension are relevant in 
their own right, regardless of whether or not a particular device would 
be called "mobile" or not.

Not that it counts for much, but it seems I'm not the only one that 
thinks this way... 
https://twitter.com/patrick_h_lauke/status/651446133768761344

> For one, "mobile" is a *very* commonly used term and so when people
> are concerned about how to make mobile offerings accessible,

Perhaps a bit tautological - for people who use the term "mobile" / have 
what they call themselves "mobile offerings", yes ... the term they'll 
look for is indeed "mobile".

Conversely, what about developers who don't use the word "mobile", but 
have a "touchscreen driven offering" (to work on both mobile phones, 
tablets, touchscreen laptops, etc)? They won't be immediately thinking 
"ah, I need the 'mobile' extension for this..."

> they'll
> likely use that term in their search and we want them to find our
> page.
>
> That said, I don't see why the technique buckets that the Mobile Note
> (and Understanding WCAG) points to couldn't be named along the lines
> you suggest "Touchscreen extension" etc.

The techniques/undestanding, but not the actual guidelines? Hmm, as long 
as that's clear enough to devs...but as said, probably too late to 
backtrack on that (which is why I think, going back to my first point, 
that it's important to stress in the initial scene-setting for the 
document the way that "mobile" is used as an umbrella term).

P
-- 
Patrick H. Lauke

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Received on Tuesday, 6 October 2015 18:27:16 UTC