RE: MATF Minutes 25 April 2019 - notes on instructions for custom gestures

So we ended up with the following:



"Instructions are provided for custom gestures or motion actuation."



After reading all comments, also from Detlev and Patrick, catching up with 2.5.1, 2.5.2 and 2.5.4 and the first draft of the intent: "Indication of gestures with e.g. icons, touch and/or device movements", I’m not sure if I should spend a lot of time writing another proposal.



Especially when we will probably aim at AAA there’s the “Help” SC already and if we update the Understanding document we might be able to tackle this one already without introducing another SC to help people.



https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#help




First would like to receive a response / discuss before more time spend.



Cheers,

Jake



-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick H. Lauke [mailto:redux@splintered.co.uk]
Sent: vrijdag 26 april 2019 13:43
To: public-mobile-a11y-tf@w3.org
Subject: Re: MATF Minutes 25 April 2019 - notes on instructions for custom gestures



On 26/04/2019 10:30, Detlev Fischer wrote:

[...]

> The context is that 2.5.1 and 2.5.4 already mandate alternatives for

> such custom gestures so if swiping is the *only* way to reveal

> functionality, the screen would fail (arguably it would not fail if

> file / delete / forward etc. are available once you select a single message).



Which is the case for Google Mail. So those swipe gestures are, in essence, shortcuts for power users, rather than *only* way to trigger an action.



[...]



> The question remains what valid way to instruct users about the

> functionality would be appropriate. An initial primer when downloading

> / first launching the app might help some, annoy others, and be of not

> much help to people with memory issues (or simply to anyone who

> intently or accidentally dismisses any start-up content delaying first

> use of an app - I would count myself a member of that group).

>

> A repeat instruction on *every* use (SR accessible, visible) seems

> quite obnoxious for what is a utility app that is used daily, many times.

>

> Visual indications via icons migh do the trick for sighted users but

> the more innocuous they are, the more likely they are to be ignored in

> which case they will not prevent accidental input errors. They would

> arguably need to be focusable / have a meaningful accName for

> non-visual users, adding many extra focus stops and probably annoying

> the heck out of repeat users. OK, there may be options to hide

> instructions but who likes delving into your apps settings? How many

> will do that? There may be options to disable app-side motion

> actuation and complex swipe gestures altogether, and these would

> likely be the preferred by users prone to accidentally performing

> gestures in a way that leads to unintended results.

>

> So this would point to a once-shown-after-first-launch type of message

> saying something like "you can use swipe on messages to reveal options

> OR disable this in the app settings". Apart from that, 2.5.1 and 2.5.2

> should take care that there are alternative ways for activating stuff

> and undoing accidental things happening after down-event (start of

> swiping). Having explicit / visible and SR-accessible instructions

> around each time you use an app seems to me a bit of a non-starter.



To me, these options (requiring that there be some sort of help/instructions page, a triggerable tutorial, or even an actual icon) also feel like they're quite prescriptive in terms of design/layout/structure for sites. Noting that this SC will likely fail the vast majority of existing content out there that does implement custom gestures / motion functionality of this kind. For these two reasons, this feels more like a AAA than a AA to me, as otherwise this will get a LOT of pushback from implementers.



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



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