Re: Definition of view as agreed by a majority in yesterday's AGWG call - strong objection

I replied on github before I saw these emails, it would be good to keep things in one place!
https://github.com/w3c/wcag3/discussions/286#discussioncomment-13638722

Thanks,

-Alastair

From: Patrick H. Lauke <redux@splintered.co.uk>
Date: Wednesday, 2 July 2025 at 09:53
To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Definition of view as agreed by a majority in yesterday's AGWG call - strong objection


On 02/07/2025 08:58, Detlev Fischer wrote:
...
> *
> An interface with a specific layout. If the layout includes at least one
> component that is used to change the content within the layout, that is
> part of the same view.*
>
> That creates a big practical problem. In the evaluation of mobile apps,
> it should be possible to allocate conformance errors to particular
> views / screens, i.e. where they occur, regardless of whether these
> views share elements like a navigation bar with other views. If we
> seriously say: if there is any element (such as such a nav bar) that all
> screens that share, then all these screens are lumped together in the
> same view, we end up amassing a broad range of issues under a single
> view, having to spell out in reporting to which screen of that monstrous
> view an issue belongs. That is not helpful. And if this turn leads to
> defining individual screens as components, i.e. components then being
> the actual units that are evaluated, you wonder what the aggregate of
> "view" is then good for. The only advantage would be to focus on the
> element(s) shared by all screens under that concept of a view (say, the
> navigation bar) but that I believe is not intended in the current
> definition.

I share the concern that if *that* is what that proposed definition aims
to do, it becomes unwieldy and counter-intuitive.

Just taking the example of a "standard" mobile-like web app/SPA with a
standard set of navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen - home,
search, a-z, settings. Are we saying that all the different sections now
fall under the same "view"? That would make it just as pointless as the
old definition of "web page".

--
Patrick H. Lauke

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