Re: Request from Conformance Options

Hi, Janina. Thanks for following up. I provided that use case when we were exploring the “minimum of difficulty” aspect of the principle, “The solution should enable website visitors with disabilities to accomplish what they want on the site with a minimum of difficulty.”

Not providing an error message when the system detects an error is currently a conformance failure, and is part of the guidelines we’ve been working on in the errors group.

In this use case, the user selects the submit button without entering data in the username or password inputs. The system redisplays the same login page without any modification — no error message, no programmatic indicator, no visual indicator.

Because the context for the error is relatively straightforward, the question is whether the page, view, or screen provides enough information such that the user can “accomplish what they want on the site with a minimum of difficulty” by recognizing why the error occurred and recovering on their own, without the help of an error message. 

If so, that would have to be reflected somehow in the conformance model, perhaps through some type of severity or impact measures, or maybe using critical errors or exceptions.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Sarah

> On May 25, 2021, at 9:48 AM, Sajka, Janina <sajkaj@amazon.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi, Sarah:
>  
> Conformance Options subgroup has asked that I contact you and your Errors
> subgroup regarding the following use case, which comes under our draft
> Principle #2.
>  
> We are concerned that the use case itself is important, but arguably not the
> best fit for illustrating our Principle #2. Does it fall within the kinds of
> errors your group is addressing?
>  
> Herewith the principle and use case from our Google Doc at:
>  
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GyUYTnZp0HIMdsKqCiISCSCvL0su692dnW34P81kbbw/ <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GyUYTnZp0HIMdsKqCiISCSCvL0su692dnW34P81kbbw/>
>  
> 2.  The solution should enable website visitors with disabilities to
> accomplish what they want on the site with a minimum of difficulty.\
>  
> Use case** **D** \[discussed 4Feb21\]: A user is trying to log in,
> and there is an error on login. The user doesn't receive an error
> message - they are simply prompted again to log in at the login
> prompt. The context indicates what should be done next - to correctly
> enter their username/password - even without an explicit error
> message. \[Concern that for people with cognitive impairments, the
> context isn't enough, and this isn't a good example of "minimum of
> difficulty" for these individuals\]
>  
> On the other hand it would seem that too much specificity would likely violate
> reasonable security considerations, e.g. you wouldn't want to tell the user
> "The third character in your password is incorrect."
>  
> Best,
>  
> Janina
> On behalf of Conformance Options subgroup
>  
>  
>  
> ----------------------------------
>  
> Janina Sajka
> Accessibility Standards Consultant
> sajkaj@amazon.com <mailto:sajkaj@amazon.com>