Re: CFC - NEW Proposed definition for 'Programatic Notification'

-1

I have serious concerns about this, as the current draft definition appears
to address non-sighted users, but the draft definition appears to also
exclude low-vision users using extreme magnification (as well as others),
when it states:

Notification set by the content which *can be announced* to the user *without
virtual or actual focus*



   1. This appears to presume the presence (and requirement) of a screen
   reader or other text-to-speech function ("announced", and "Example: a
   screen reader announces to a user...") [i.e. issue with the term
   "announced"]

   2. The lack of visual or actual focus potentially excludes low-vision
   users who may not be using TTS; it also may have an impact on some users
   with cognition issues who may not realize that an action performed in one
   region of the page updates content elsewhere (a requirement of SC 1.3.1: "
   *...**to ensure that information and relationships that are implied by
   visual or auditory formatting are preserved when the presentation format
   changes.*")

   3. This definition also appears to potentially condone not meeting the
   requirements of Success Criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible ("Notification set
   by the content...without virtual or actual focus"). Granted, we see
   shopping-cart updates and similar widgets that routinely have this issue,
   however I am concerned about a Definition that appears to accept that as
   "OK".

   4. It is unclear what the distinction is between "Programmatic
   Notification" and "Programmatically Determinable", which states:

             (".*..determined by software from author-supplied data
   provided in a way that different user agents
   <https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#dfn-user-agent>, including assistive
   technologies <https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#dfn-assistive-technology>**,
   can extract and present this information to users in different
modalities.*")


   ...except for the fact that the original definition address alternative
   modalities, which the proposed definition does not address.


To be clear:

*I support the proposed draft SC (3.2.7 Change of Content) advancing to
WCAG 2.1, this is not the issue. *

However, conceptually linked to this "*Understandable*" SC is the
additional requirement that any Change of Content *also* needs to be "
*Perceivable*" to all users as well. The current definition of *Programmatic
notification *however actively confuses this requirement when it suggests
that 'notification' would only be auditory in nature, and that the lack of
visible indication is acceptable.


JF

On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 3:18 PM, Joshue O Connor <josh@interaccess.ie> wrote:

> Call For Consensus — ends Friday October 6th at 1:00pm Boston time.
>
> The Working Group has a new proposed definition of "Programmatic
> Notification" as found in the Change of Content SC.
> <https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#purpose-of-controls>
> https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#change-of-content
>
> The DFN text is:
>
> <dfn>
> Programmatic notification.
>
> Notification set by the content which can be announced to the user without
> virtual or actual focus, using methods that are supported by user agents,
> including assistive technologies.
>
> Example: a screen reader announces to a user that their shopping cart has
> been updated after they select an item for purchase.
> </dfn>
>
> And can be viewed here: https://github.com/w3c/wcag21/commit/
> b5c68e17f82feb0cdbbafc273f245b136a7445c4
>
> This was discussed on todays call: https://www.w3.org/2017/10/03-
> ag-minutes.html#item09
>
> This definition was previously missing from WCAG 2.1 and the proposal is
> to add it.
>
> If you have concerns about this proposed consensus position that have not
> been discussed already and feel that those concerns result in you “not
> being able to live with” this decision, please let the group know before
> the CfC deadline.
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> Joshue O Connor
> Director | InterAccess.ie
>



-- 
John Foliot
Principal Accessibility Strategist
Deque Systems Inc.
john.foliot@deque.com

Advancing the mission of digital accessibility and inclusion