RE: User Interface Context

A couple of example user interfaces where this concept becomes ambiguous.


1.       A number of software applications only have one main UI window and contain tabs or similar UI elements which are hidden or displayed based on where you navigate to. for example, in Adobe Connect which is an online collaboration tool, you essentially have just one window with a number of pods. These pods are automatically expanded or collapsed when the user navigates to or away from those pods. These individual pods have a number of user interface elements and elements in one pod are in no way related to elements in another pod. In this scenario, is the application considered to only have one User Interface Context?

2.       If I have multiple documents open in Microsoft Word, I can use Ctrl+F6 to switch between these documents. Would that be one user interface context or multiple interface contexts? If it is one user interface context, what if one of those documents has no interactivity while the other is a form which is highly interactive? And if we decide that this scenario is not a single user interface context, how did we arrive at that decision? When do we decide that there is enough of a change in context to justify a new user interface context?

3.       How does one distinguish between navigation and activation commands? Ctrl+F6 is a navigation command but on the face of it, it brings about a major change in the user interface.


Kiran Kaja
Accessibility Engineer
Adobe Systems Europe
+44 (0) 1628 590005 (Direct)
80005 (Internal)
+44 (0) 78330 91999 (Mobile)
Kkaja@adobe.com<mailto:Kkaja@adobe.com>
Twitter.com/kirankaja12

From: Gregg Vanderheiden [mailto:gv@trace.wisc.edu]
Sent: 11 July 2012 19:24
To: public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org
Subject: User Interface Context

Mike and Loic and I just finished up our assignment to work  on the  "context of interaction" bit

we have come up with a new concept which we are calling  " User Interface Context"
            - it is similar to the "Interaction Context"  concept but we refined it to address issues raised     and then we tried applying it to the different places that "Web Pages" is used.   Some of those are "closed" items  and they look fine as they are -- but we felt it should work there none-the-less  -- and it did seem to work there).
.

For the new work on 'User Interface Context"  go to
<https://sites.google.com/site/wcag2ict/cross-cutting-issues-and-notes/user-interface-context>

On that page is a list of all the place that "Web Pages" is used.  We included links to make it easy for you to go there.



We also did new proposals for several of the items that are still open including

2.4.5
2.4.6
3.1.1
3.1.2

And I updated my proposal on a couple items to reflect the new work.

2.4.1
3.2.3

This new definition might also help clear some of the items that are "accepted pending definition of "web page". etc.


Gregg
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Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Director Trace R&D Center
Professor Industrial & Systems Engineering
and Biomedical Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Co-Director, Raising the Floor - International
and the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure Project
http://Raisingthefloor.org   ---   http://GPII.net



Gregg
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