Re: Focus visible (enh) update

Alastair notes: "If browsers reliably met the requirement in the
proposed SC, authors wouldn't have to do anything".
There should simply be a UAG SC mandating browser makers do this first.
I am only referring  to essential components of  Web accessibility:
Web accessibility depends not only on accessible content but also on
accessible Web browsers and other user agents.
There is no need to impose  a fallback requirement for   content
authors. This increases the cost of ensuring accessibility immensely:
figuring out algorithms, testing content, training testers, etc.
Maybe there should be a W3C task force  to urge UA makers to follow
guidelines,  demand accountability, and not use hacky methods like
Jonathan stated in widely deployed apps that are used directly by end
users.

Respectfully,
Sailesh


On 10/18/19, Alastair Campbell <acampbell@nomensa.com> wrote:
> Sailesh wrote:
>> Maybe browser makers should be urged to  improve the default focus
>> indicator area
>> and contrast issues that are noted as accessibility concerns.
>
> If browsers reliably met the requirement in the proposed SC, authors
> wouldn't have to do anything. Also, this SC came from the non-text contrast
> SC not working well enough for focus styles, the original intent was to
> cover it.
>
> People have been asking browsers for better focus styles [1], but it hasn't
> gotten anywhere.
>
> If authors rely on browser defaults, there are several known instances [2]
> where it is difficult or impossible to see:
> - Chrome/Safari has a blue indicator, invisible on a blue background.
> - Firefox uses 'currentColor', so a link/button with a dark background and
> white text would have a white indicator, on a white background.
> - The 1px dotted outline approach  (FF/IE/Edge) is hard to see for everyone
> in many circumstances.
>
> If an author has provided a custom focus style (and sites which don't are
> rare from the sites we audit), there is currently little definition of
> 'visible'. Non-text contrast measures 'adjacent' colors, which is not an
> effective measure for focus styles which are dynamic.
>
> As David and Jon have mentioned, user-agent tools are relatively unknown (or
> v. technical) for users, and when used are not effective across all sites.
> There are author things that need to  be done for complex sites where it
> defines a complex interface, and even simple sites in particular scenarios.
>
> So to return to the beginning of this email: I think we should define a
> minimum bar for 'visible', which can be achieved by user-agents or authors.
> In general authors will need to meet it for now, but if user agents deal
> with it, great!
>
> Cheers,
>
> -Alastair
>
> 1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1284235
> 2] https://adrianroselli.com/2017/02/avoid-default-browser-focus-styles.html
>
>
>


-- 
Sailesh Panchang
Principal Accessibility Consultant
Deque Systems Inc
381 Elden Street, Suite 2000, Herndon, VA 20170
Mobile: 571-344-1765

Received on Saturday, 19 October 2019 01:48:51 UTC