Re: A question has come up about SC 2.2.2 & the blinking caret/cursor...

Gregg, all,

And to be clear... this most recent missive/sub-thread was about 
blinking carets/cursors and SC 2.3.1.

The original question was about blinking carets/cursors and SC 2.2.2...  
And I think we've answered that question: in order to not fail SC 2.2.2, 
there must be a way to turn caret/cursor blinking off.


Peter

On 9/11/2013 4:21 PM, Gregg Vanderheiden wrote:
>> it sounds like you’re saying that the Flash criteria apply to blinking
>
> It does and but you would always pass it.
>
> TECHNICALLY
> the Flash provisions (and all provisions) apply to everything. 
>  Including a blank page.
> The question isn't whether they apply or not -- but whether the page 
> PASSES or SATISFIES the success criterion.
>
> So back to the cursor question
> - to fail -
> FIRST - something would have to flash or blink or whatever, more than 
> 3 times in a one second period.
> I have never seen a cursor flash that fast.   but I guess it is possible
> SECOND - something that flashes more than three times in 1 second has 
> to ALSO be large enough to cover 40% of your central visual field.     
> This is pretty big.    Much larger than any cursor.    So SC 2.3.1 
> would apply but you couldn’t fail SC 2.3.1  with any non-magnified 
> cursors -- even large ones.
>
>
>
>> I agree that the key issue seems to be that this blinking can be 
>> stopped somehow or that there are user agents available which don’t 
>> have the blinking behavior.
>
> Right
>
>> Thanks,
>> AWK
>
>
>
>
> /Gregg/
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.
> Director Trace R&D Center
> Professor Industrial & Systems Engineering
> and Biomedical Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison
> Technical Director - Cloud4all Project - http://Cloud4all.info
> Co-Director, Raising the Floor - International - 
> http://Raisingthefloor.org
> and the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure Project - http://GPII.net
>
> On Sep 11, 2013, at 11:17 AM, Andrew Kirkpatrick <akirkpat@adobe.com 
> <mailto:akirkpat@adobe.com>> wrote:
>
>> Also not speaking for the WG, but it sounds like you’re saying that 
>> the Flash criteria apply to blinking and I don’t read it that way.  
>> The note in the blink definition says:
>> /Note: See also flash. It is possible for something to be large 
>> enough and blink brightly enough at the right frequency to be also 
>> classified as a flash./
>> I agree that the key issue seems to be that this blinking can be 
>> stopped somehow or that there are user agents available which don’t 
>> have the blinking behavior.
>> Thanks,
>> AWK
>> Andrew Kirkpatrick
>> Group Product Manager, Accessibility
>> Adobe Systems
>> akirkpat@adobe.com <mailto:akirkpatrick@adobe.com>
>> http://twitter.com/awkawk
>> http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility
>> *From:*Gregg Vanderheiden [mailto:gv@trace.wisc.edu 
>> <http://trace.wisc.edu>]
>> *Sent:*Wednesday, September 11, 2013 8:58 AM
>> *To:*Peter Korn
>> *Cc:*public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org <mailto:public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org>
>> *Subject:*Re: A question has come up about SC 2.2.2 & the blinking 
>> caret/cursor...
>> [The comments below are my opinion - and not official findings of 
>> WCAG WG.    Gregg Van -_ex_co-chair of WCAG WG]
>> The caret would never be a problem with 2.3.1. since a)  it would 
>> have to  blink more than 3 times in any one second period (which I 
>> have never seen) or else it automatically passes  and  b) it would 
>> have to occupy more than 40% of the area subtended by the eye (10 
>> degrees) -- as normally displayed on a 1024 x 768    15 inch screen. 
>>  (See definition in WCAG 2.0).     So you are correct Peter - a 
>> blinking text caret/cursor would never fail 2.3.1 with any caret that 
>> I have ever seen or could imagine -- even if you did create one that 
>> blinked more than 3 times a second (which would drive me to 
>> distraction).
>>  However -- one of the reason for the provision, is that blinking 
>> content can be a distraction for some people that prevents them from 
>> focusing.   And small blinking objects can do this as well as large. 
>>  In fact the reason the cursor blinks is specifically so that it will 
>> catch your eye.
>> The normal way to solve this is  to provide a way for the cursor to 
>> be made to not blink.  A non-blinking cursor option.
>> NOTE: if the blinking cursor is part of the browser (and not actually 
>> something created, and blinked, by the web page content) then it is 
>> up to the browser not the web page to provide the non-blinking option.
>> For software it is a bit different I think. If the system cursor 
>> blinks, and it is known that there is no option to turn it off, the 
>> preferences/settings of the application could provide such an option. 
>>  Clearly however, the place that this should be fixed is by providing 
>> a non-blinking cursor option in the system control panel -- where 
>> other cursor options are provided.
>> In the case you cite (the terminal window) it is not clear what kind 
>> of terminal you mean - or whether this is a (terminal) application 
>> generated cursor or a system cursor.   But the above would apply.
>> And finally, yes - I think that something to this effect should be in 
>> understanding doc -- at least for web pages.     Not sure we can say 
>> much about software in the Understanding WCAG 2.0 -- but something 
>> like about the OS could be.
>> Maybe something like
>> "Note: a blinking text caret/cursor is specifically designed to catch 
>> the attention of the user, and would fall under this provision. 
>> However, if the caret/cursor is not generated by the content, but if 
>> it is a system or browser generated cursor, it is the browser or 
>> system that should provide the option to turn it off so that it does 
>> not blink for the user on all pages (or applications). "
>> Gregg Van
>>
>>     *From:*Peter Korn [mailto:peter.korn@oracle.com <http://oracle.com>]
>>     *Sent:*Tuesday, September 10, 2013 10:18 PM
>>     *To:*public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org <mailto:public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org>
>>     *Subject:*A question has come up about SC 2.2.2 & the blinking
>>     caret/cursor...
>>     Hi gang,
>>
>>     As we are digesting WCAG2ICT's guidance internally at Oracle, a
>>     question came up about whether and howSC 2.2.2: Pause, Stop, Hide
>>     <http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#time-limits-pause>should be
>>     applied to the blinking text caret/cursor in a terminal window
>>     (or the actual machine console).
>>
>>     We presume that the blinking text caret/cursor is too small a
>>     blinking/flashing region to trigger2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below
>>     Threshold
>>     <http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#seizure-does-not-violate>, but
>>     that is addressing a different concern.
>>
>>
>>     Should a blinking text caret/cursor be a violation of 2.2.2?  Or
>>     is what is blinking not "information"?  Or is the blinking
>>     "essential"?  Or is perhaps the blinking area small enough that
>>     it doesn't serve as a significant distraction (since it's not a
>>     problem on a console for a console screen reader or magnifier),
>>     that we might appropriately add language to Understanding to
>>     essentially exempt that behavior?
>>
>>
>>     Regards,
>>
>>     Peter
>>     --
>>     <image001.gif> <http://www.oracle.com>
>>     Peter Korn | Accessibility Principal
>>     Phone:+1 650 5069522 <tel:+1%20650%205069522>
>>     500 Oracle Parkway | Redwood City, CA 94065
>>     <image002.gif> <http://www.oracle.com/commitment>Oracle is
>>     committed to developing practices and products that help protect
>>     the environment
>>
>

-- 
Oracle <http://www.oracle.com>
Peter Korn | Accessibility Principal
Phone: +1 650 5069522 <tel:+1%20650%205069522>
500 Oracle Parkway | Redwood City, CA 94064
Green Oracle <http://www.oracle.com/commitment> Oracle is committed to 
developing practices and products that help protect the environment

Received on Wednesday, 11 September 2013 23:24:11 UTC