Re: Animation conveying information

Hi Sarah.,
I am a designer of description for interactive simulations, not a tester.

My concern as a designer would be, does a screen reader user have access to the information needed to perceive, operate, and understand the button, in an efficient and enjoyable way. That is:

- Does the button have an accessible name?
- Does the button receive a high contrast outline or highlight on keyboard focus? 
- Is the button a native html button and if not is the role of button implemented properly?
- Is there help text near by in a modality accessible to someone with BLV, e.g. text or sound or even haptic feedback that indicates that it is likely urgent to press the button if one wants to proceed with the web experience?
- And finally, is the change in context when the button is pressed appropriately communicated, again in a modality accessible to someone with BLV?

The fact that the button is pulsing is not super important unless it is essential to know that it is pulsing to be able to enjoy the experience.

I come up against issues around equitable access to information all the time in the work I do - i.e. making highly interactive simulations (i.e. very dynamic) about STEM concepts accessible and inclusive to all learners. 

At PhET we have developed Description Design Framework (Smith and Moore, 2020) that modularizes descriptions into State Descriptions and Responsive Descriptions which are further broken down into Static and Dynamic State Descriptions and Object and Context Responses. The sims for which we have designed descriptions provide an interactive described experience that provides constant access to an accurate description of the current state (on demand) and the object and context responses capture relevant changes happing to objects and context in the moment and in response to interaction as a learner interacts and makes changes.

While using the framework I can convey a lot of detail that becomes part of the experience, it never includes every visual detail -  only the information relevant for successful interaction, only the information needed for sense making, and often a little extra detail when needed to make things fun and enjoyable.

I am not convinced that the animation itself needs to be made accessible to screen reader users as long as the interaction itself is accessible with a screen reader. I would be more concerned about people who can see but who could be confused or distracted by the animation.

I hope that is helpful information,
Taliesin


~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Taliesin L. Smith
talilief@gmail.com 
taliesin.smith@colorado.edu 

Inclusive Design Research Specialist
PhET Interactive Simulations
http://phet.colorado.edu/
Department of Physics
University of Colorado, Boulder






> On Aug 2, 2024, at 13:40, Ms J <ms.jflz.woop@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello
> 
> This is maybe niche and something I haven't seen before. I have a website which uses animation to convey information. For example, to show that you must click a button next, the button pulses. This is information conveyed by movement. It isn't really time based media and it isn't really non-text content... it is animation/movement used to convey instruction. 
> 
> What SC would you align this with please? It is almost sensory characteristics but the instruction is implicit in the animation...
> 
> It needs an alternative for people who can't perceive the animation, would this be 1.1.1? Or 1.2.1?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Sarah
> 
> Sent from Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>