Re: guideline 7.1 about screen flickering (fwd)

Matt,
         We are probably all guilty of describing the elephant by examining 
a small portion of the whole. It is not a matter of whether my information 
is true or yours, they are both true (and still limited in not describing 
the whole that describes the people with attention disabilities and how 
they use the web.

         In the past, you may have referred me to a study on 
distractability, and I tried the exercises. The problem with the study was 
that the distraction wasn't the motion, but the timing.  perhaps combined 
with the motion.

         Back to the original question,  we are not talking about a flash 
movie or a marquee, but an animated gif. Perhaps it would be OK in this 
case to set the animation to just a few loops. How many are needed, and for 
whom?  If we say elsewhere to not limit the user's time interacting with 
content, will there be a conflict if we say to turn off some elements after 
they run some number of times? I still think this animated gif will not 
make a page inaccessible, but will enhance comprehension (department 
recognition) by its presence.

         On the browser issue: the most popular browser provides user 
control. If the Stop button doesn't exist, or work, in Netscape 6, I would 
hope that would be reason enough to keep someone who needs that control 
from investing in that browser.

                                                 Anne


Anne Pemberton
apembert@erols.com

http://www.erols.com/stevepem
http://www.geocities.com/apembert45

Received on Thursday, 26 July 2001 14:23:31 UTC