Re: Visual Indicators

To clarify an aspect that I’ve been uncomfortable with: does this mean that we are requiring that text links have underlines?

As an example, see https://www.google.com/search?q=WCAG – there are no underlined links. Some links are blue (4.6:1 contrast against non-link text color so meets non-text contrast) and larger text. Since the links are larger text and appear as a result of appearing in a list of search results so there is a heightened expectation that there will be links, I expect that we will encounter a lot of push-back on requiring underlines.

Amazon.com is similarly free of links without underlines.

I understand that the SC doesn’t strictly require that links are underlined – each link could have a little link icon next to it also, or some other visual indication.

I support the user need and trying to identify an SC that addresses the need, but this may need to be handled by user preferences, personalization, or plugins. Firefox already allows users to set links to be underlined, so plugins aren’t even needed with that browser.

My core question is whether the existence of readily available tools that users can use to meet this SC would be regarded as sufficient. If not, I expect that this will not survive comments.

Thanks,
AWK

Andrew Kirkpatrick
Head of Accessibility
Adobe

akirkpat@adobe.com
http://twitter.com/awkawk


From: David Fazio <dfazio@helixopp.com>
Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 2:58 PM
To: "Niemann, Gundula" <gundula.niemann@sap.com>, David MacDonald <david@can-adapt.com>, WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Visual Indicators
Resent-From: WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Resent-Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 2:58 PM

I’d also like to suggest/request an edit to the exception “An underline is a sufficient indicator that a control is actionable.”

I would prefer this only apply to text links. otherwise I think it would be very problematic to our COGA user needs

DF
This message was Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse any typographic errors.


On Apr 8, 2020, at 11:37 AM, David Fazio <dfazio@helixopp.com> wrote:
We have done a lot of work, this past year, to identify and address some critical user needs in COGA. In reference to this SC they would be:

Helping users understand what things are and how to use them;

Using clear and understandable content;

Preventing the user from making mistakes

Also:

As I briefly mentioned, when a user browses a page they rely on “top-down attention”. This is a voluntary, narrow minded, tunnel vision, effort that is driven by internal predispositions of what the user expects to find (what it would look like). In doing so, they filter out most all other information that doesn’t meet their predisposed expectations (we rely on past experiences for this). This creates a high probability of “inattentional blindness, which is failing to notice something because it doesn’t meet your internal, or sub-conscious, expectations. In order for a stimulus to catch your attention it must be “salient”. This means it must have some logical relationship to the background, as well as your internal expectations, while also having prominent characteristics that make it stound out as different.

Using clear, salient, visual indicators helps users reduce mental fatigue, because the content jumps out at you in a process known as “bottom up attention, which is involuntary. It also helps users understand content (what it is, what it does), and helps prevent performing the wrong action. Text links aren’t typically used to perform processes or functions. Buttons, and controls are, which probably sounds redundant.

So, I am in favor of expanding the scope.

David Fazio


From: "Niemann, Gundula" <gundula.niemann@sap.com>
Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 9:36 AM
To: David MacDonald <david@can-adapt.com>, WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Subject: RE: Visual Indicators
Resent-From: <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Resent-Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 9:36 AM

Hello David, hello all,

in fact we do not agree to widen the scope of the upcoming “Visual Indicators” Success Criterion to inline links in a block of text,
as inline links are handled in SC 1.4.1, and the Success Criteria should be free of overlaps.
For easier reference, I linked some documents which are relevant in this context.
Some are from WCAG 2.0, some are from WCAG 2.1.
Use of Color:
Understanding SC 1.4.1 (in WCAG 2.0)
Section Techniques and Failures for Success Criterion 1.4.1 - Use of Color
https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-without-color.html


Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.1: Use of Color
https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/use-of-color.html


Using a contrast ratio of 3:1 with surrounding text and providing additional visual cues on focus for links or controls where color alone is used to identify them
https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/general/G183


F73: Failure of Success Criterion 1.4.1 due to creating links that are not visually evident without color vision
https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/F73.html

https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/failures/F73


Best regards,
Gundula

----------
Dr. Gundula Niemann
SAP Accessibility Competence Center
SAP SE





From: David MacDonald <david@can-adapt.com>
Sent: Dienstag, 7. April 2020 19:32
To: WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Subject: Visual Indicators

Hi all

On the call John Avila, John Kirkwood and Brooks said they would like to see the scope of the Visual Indicators SC widened. Here is my attempt to do that while not impacting current design conventions.

      Visual Indicators: For controls needed to progress or complete a process, and inline links in a block of text, differences in spacing between elements, typeface, font size, or font style are not used as the only visual means of conveying interaction.

             Exception: An underline is a sufficient indicator that a control is actionable.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WhZAbswvPHs7A3stfqM_ATsaBHPeGbHtARcmaKMck1U/edit?usp=sharing


Cheers,
David MacDonald



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