Re: WCAG 2.2 status - Icon Description

RE: “I didn’t quite understand what you were suggesting should change, did you mean that it should always be available with the icon, rather than before it?”

I am suggesting the text description accompany all instances – if those instances are flow content.

I am fine with the example where the usage is clustered within a data visualization component. However, in a chart or map, it would have to be a legend, since there is likely no “first instance” as visually interpreted.


Charles Hall // Senior UX Architect
Invited Expert, W3C Accessibility Guidelines Working Group

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From: Alastair Campbell <acampbell@nomensa.com>
Date: Monday, January 13, 2020 at 5:43 AM
To: "Hall, Charles (DET-MRM)" <Charles.Hall@mrm-mccann.com>
Cc: WCAG list <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: WCAG 2.2 status - Icon Description

Hi Charles,

Discussion here is fine ☺

> I would prefer a more strict SC.
> “on or before the first occurrence of an icon on the page” can still be a challenge or barrier for people (including those interpreting the SC without specific examples).

I didn’t quite understand what you were suggesting should change, did you mean that it should always be available with the icon, rather than before it?

A scenario we were considering was that icons can be used as categorisation and used repeatedly in table rows/columns, for example:
https://i1.wp.com/www.joelonsoftware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/grid.gif?ssl=1<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__i1.wp.com_www.joelonsoftware.com_wp-2Dcontent_uploads_2016_12_grid.gif-3Fssl-3D1&d=DwMGaQ&c=Ftw_YSVcGmqQBvrGwAZugGylNRkk-uER0-5bY94tjsc&r=FbsK8fvOGBHiAasJukQr6i2dv-WpJzmR-w48cl75l3c&m=qB_tmQLo5qB5LW0aZlpd9V-sGKU3CsiGyXGsyTVk07c&s=8Ntvj1MCJwSqz0iWnNFtnNEDGG8P_A8e25fGozLyM9o&e=>
[alt = a table of cases in a bug tracker, the first column shows an icon for ‘bug’ (spider), ‘idea’ (light bulb), and email (envelope).]

In scenarios like data-visualisations or maps, it seemed reasonable to allow for a legend approach rather than require something on every instance.
It would also help keep it cross-technology, as things like ePub/PDF wouldn’t (reasonably) be able to have a page-level toggle.


> This also assumes the “page” is the user’s context.

Yep, this is for WCAG 2.x, so the page is the unit of conformance.

Cheers,

-Alastair

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