- From: Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>
- Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 22:28:03 -0400
- To: w3c-wai-ua@w3.org
Hello, After several hours of discussions today with Charles and Eric Hansen, I would like to propose the following changes to the document. The checkpoint numbers are those of the 7 May Guidelines [1]. This proposal concerns "volume" related checkpoints. Here are the checkpoints that include requirements for volume control: 3.2 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of background audio. [Priority 1] 3.4 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of audio. [Priority 1] 4.8 Allow the user to configure the audio volume. [Priority 2] 4.10 Allow the user to configure synthesized speech volume. [Priority 1] At the 8 June teleconference, we resolved to change the priority of 4.8 to P1. I propose changing the requirements embodied by these three checkpoints to the following: 1) On/off control of global audio (When audio is a distraction. This is a special case of the second requirement, but can stand alone.) 2) Control of global audio volume (For users who are hard of hearing and users for whom audio is a distraction.) 3) Relative control of volume among audio objects. (Currently, this is only applied to the particular case of synthesized speech. For notes on discussion about this requirement, refer to 8 June minutes [2].) Note that checkpoint 3.2 is about "background audio". What is the difference between turning off background audio and turning off audio, except when background audio is an identifiable track that may be turned off independently of other audio? I'm not sure there is a difference, but to capture the requirement of being able to make background audio go away, I propose augmenting the scope of 4.10 to cover all audio objects. Thus, we would end up with the following three priority one checkpoints: 1) Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of audio. 2) Allow the user to configure the audio volume. 3) Allow the user to control the volume of audio sources independently. Notes: 1) The applicability clause is in effect here. Therefore, if some other agent renders the audio, that agent is responsible for volume control. 2) It might be possible to narrow the scope of checkpoint three to the two cases already discussed in the document: background audio and synthesized speech. However, defining "background audio" is difficult and I don't know whether life would be any easier on developers if we did. Does anyone know of existing software where the user can control the volume of different audio sources independently? - Ian [1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-UAAG10-20000507 [2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2000AprJun/0429.html -- Ian Jacobs (jacobs@w3.org) http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs Tel: +1 831 457-2842 Cell: +1 917 450-8783
Received on Friday, 9 June 2000 22:28:07 UTC