Odd guideline naming in WCAG 3 ... "Mobile"

Hey all,

while it's probably late at this stage, I'd like to - as I mentioned 
quite a while ago - reiterate that "Mobile and pointer support" is 
really far from ideal...but I see it's still being used here 
https://w3c.github.io/silver/guidelines/#mobile-and-pointer-support

I've mentioned many times before (even back when the MATF was devised) 
that the term "Mobile" really is fairly meaningless nowadays.

What is "Mobile" these days? Does it include tablets? "Phablets" (is 
that horrible term still used)?

What does "supports mobile" even mean? And why is it lumped together 
with pointer support, which spans mouse/touch/stylus/etc which apply to 
all types of devices (including laptops with touchscreen, as well as 
smartphones with a paired bluetooth mouse).

If by "supports mobile" we mean "works well on small screens", that 
aspect is covered already by "Flexible views". Do we mean "things 
relating to orientation (portrait/landscape)"? If so, even some laptops 
include orientation sensors and can adapt/change when in portrait rather 
than landscape mode, and that should also fall under "Flexible views". 
Do we mean "typically uses touchscreen"? If so, as said, touch is also 
an input modality found on tablets, laptops, even desktop devices (and 
those really large wall-mounted presentation displays), so no need to 
single out "Mobile" for this, and it's covered already by the "pointer 
support" part of the name.

I would propose rebranding/refocusing "Mobile and pointer support" to 
just be "Pointer support" (which also nicely complements "Keyboard 
support"), and leaving the other aspects above in their other respective 
guidelines.

Concentrate on *features*, not trying to pigeonhole things on a 
per-device-type basis.

There's no need these days to call out "Mobile" like it's a defined 
thing, as the boundaries between different device classes is now so blurred.

As an additional point, originally MATF also birthed "Label in Name", 
which came primarily from the voice input side. Nothing particularly 
"Mobile" about it (so it was already strange that it came from a TF that 
purported to be about "Mobile Accessibility"), and it should likely be 
its own guideline/category (I see this doesn't appear to be included as 
a guideline/grouping in the current WCAG 3 structure).

Patrick
-- 
Patrick H. Lauke

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Received on Thursday, 20 July 2023 22:28:24 UTC