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

>But then, we know already that solutions for some users some cognitive
disabilities can actually make things worse for other users with other,
different cognitive disabilities...

 

Does anybody know of anyone in the cognitive community, who had difficulty
with a blinking cursor back in the old days of DOS? Pause stop hide is
usually a problem when it happens somewhere on the screen where the user is
not looking, and it is in their peripheral vision… most of the command line
situations would have the flashing where the person is focused… no?

 

But I agree a user setting to turn it off would solve it…

 

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From: Peter Korn [mailto:peter.korn@oracle.com] 
Sent: September 11, 2013 10:07 AM
To: Gregg Vanderheiden
Cc: public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org
Subject: Re: A question has come up about SC 2.2.2 & the blinking
caret/cursor...

 

Gregg,

Your thoughts are very similar to mine.  The key, I think, is having a
configuration setting to turn off caret/cursor blinking.  Note: doing so may
make it more difficult to locate the focus (e.g. when focus is indicated in
an edit-text field solely by the presence of a blinking insertion point).
But 2.4.7 Focus Visible
<http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#navigation-mechanisms-focus-visible>  says:
"...has a mode of operation where the keyboard focus indicator is visible".
This shows the brilliance of the folks developing WCAG.

There is no requirement in WCAG that states that you must BOTH have no
blinking AND at the same time make the focus visible.  Mind you, various
accessibility regulatory efforts push for addressing multiple disabilities
at the same time in ways that might be difficult to satisfy.  But then, we
know already that solutions for some users some cognitive disabilities can
actually make things worse for other users with other, different cognitive
disabilities...


Regards,

Peter

On 9/11/2013 5:57 AM, Gregg Vanderheiden wrote:

[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@ <http://oracle.com> oracle.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 10:18 PM
To:  <mailto:public-wcag2ict-tf@w3.org> 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 how
<http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#time-limits-pause> SC 2.2.2: Pause, Stop,
Hide 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 trigger
<http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/#seizure-does-not-violate> 2.3.1 Three
Flashes or Below Threshold, 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

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Peter Korn | Accessibility Principal
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