Re: guideline 7.1 about screen flickering (fwd)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason White" <jasonw@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au>
> While agreeing with Kynn, I would add that the user agent (or software
> operating in conjunction with it) is in an excellent position to block
> these effects if the user so wishes. That is, if one wants to take
> steps to prevent certain effects that might be distracting, one is
> entirely free to do so (it is merely a case of overriding the author's
> presentation).

But when one does override the presentation, one loses the ability to view
animations that actually _do_ aid their comprehension, doesn't one? There's
no way of determining whether a given image is animated, and no way to start
an animation when it's disabled.

I browse with images but without animation, and it's very common for the
first frame of a given animated GIF to communicate little to nothing. (For
example, a banner ad for Snickers candy bars, with no Snickers logo
anywhere, and only the word "Hungry?" Or nothing at all, on a black
background.) Here, the user receives none of the content of the image, and
alt text is not visible. Turning off images completely and relying on alt
text is the only real solution involving the user agent, and I find that to
be really excessive in context.

At the least, I'd like to see a requirement that animated GIFs degrade to
something meaningful when animations are turned off (e.g., displaying the
last frame of the animation first, in the case of banners, since they
usually represent the payoff). The current 4.4 (design content so that when
presentation effects are turned off or not supported the content is still
usable) seems to require that.

-
m

Received on Thursday, 26 July 2001 21:42:44 UTC