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

+1



On Thu, Jul 20, 2023 at 5:28 PM Patrick H. Lauke <redux@splintered.co.uk>
wrote:

> 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
>
> https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
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>
>