Re: Your comments on WCAG 2.0 Last Call Working Draft of December, 2007

Loretta Guarino Reid wrote:
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> Comment 1: Screen width issue with reflow
> Source: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-comments-wcag20/2007Dec/0052.html
> (Issue ID: 2377)
> Status: VERIFIED / NOT ACCEPTED
> ----------------------------
> Original Comment:
> ----------------------------
> 
> (From responses to Issue 2356)
> Problem 1:
> ----------
<--snip-->
This refers to the line 'text is resized without assistive technology up 
to 200 percent in a way that does not require the user to scroll 
horizontally to read a line of text'

> 
> More critically, the need for horizontal scrolling depends on the
> pixel-width of the viewport, and this is *impossible for the designer to
> control*. A moderately long word (or a URL) on a PDA will easily fail
> this - and some languages have a lot of long words.
> 
> Proposed Change:
> ----------------
> Suggested change: replace "in a way that does not require the user
> to scroll horizontally" with "while remaining readable to the user"
> 
> Current comment:
> 
> Is there any update about the screen width issue?
> 
> ---------------------------------------------
> Response from Working Group:
> ---------------------------------------------
> 
> We have clarified the last bullet of the success criterion by adding
> "on a full screen window".
> 
> So any URI would have to be longer than 1/2 of the screen in order to
> cause a problem with this provision.

Formal objection: but a URI could easily be longer than 1/2 of the 
screen on a small-screen browser (PDA, smartphone etc.) - I entirely 
accept the point for desktop browsing - but can we have an exception for 
small-screen browsers? Or name a pixel-width below which it doesn't 
apply? 320px? How about languages with long words e.g. German?

Example: The WAI home page on Opera Mini(http://tinyurl.com/2lsef7)

View the body text column. Would this fail the checkpoint as it stands 
because the list items 'Call for review: UAAG 2.0 Working Draft' 
requires horizontal scrolling (at 100%)? The concept of 'text is resized 
up to 200%' breaks down in any case on Opera Mini, iPhone Safari etc.

I think this is a platform-specific checkpoint, and should be so noted.

> Note that the last bullet does not prohibit the use (or need to use) a
> horizontal scroll bar. It just prohibits requiring its use to read a
> single line of text in  a paragraph from the beginning to the end. We
> have added information to Understanding 1.4.8 to help clarify this.

Accept, thanks.

> Any page with two columns of text on it would automatically conform
> even if it did not reflow.  You could zoom the page and read either
> column using only the vertical scrollbar once you had the column on
> screen.

Thanks for clarifying this.

> Screen magnifiers such as Zoomtext are designed specifically to make
> horizontal scrolling (or any kind of scolling) extremely easy, by
> simply moving the mouse. Users who do not have the benefit of
> assistive technology do not have this same advantage. At level AAA our
> success critieria do not have the same requirement of AT on the part
> of the user that we find at Level A and AA. People with cognitive
> challenges do not require a screen magnifier to read, but they are
> most certainly disoriented by having to scroll horizontally. This is
> also true of low vision people who do not use AT.

Interesting, I hadn't picked up the requirement of AT on the part of the 
user for AA and A. Seems like a sensible division.

So, generally accept but would like clarification for small-screen 
browsers and long words.

-- 
Liam McGee, Managing Director, Communis Ltd
www.communis.co.uk      +44 (0)1373 836 476

Received on Friday, 14 March 2008 11:33:03 UTC