Re: finishing up MS04 - Back command

Re 3.2.2 Back button, Jeanne's originally proposed sentence should be consistent about whether it's called "the Back button" or "the Back feature". Even though people colloquially call it the back button, that's a very mouse-centric habit since many users trigger it with keyboard commands.

I believe this feature is really about navigating through the session's browsing history, with Back and Forward commands merely being a few of the most common means of doing so, and most browsers also present the history as a list or menu so that the user can move to a given page without having to navigate to every page in between. Did we already discuss phrasing the SC in a more general way, or addressing it in the Intent section?

Another question about the SC is, how would it apply to user agents other than web browsers? For example, a media player's Open command may automatically close the video being viewed and load a second one in its place; if we don't expect the player to provide a Back command in this case, what wording would distinguish it from navigating in a web browser?

As an aside, there was a good article by Christian Holst, "4 Design Patterns That Violate Back-Button Expectations" (http://baymard.com/blog/back-button-expectations). It says in part "During all our usability studies we’ve observed how users, both novice and expert, rely extensively on the browser back button... The consequences of breaking the user’s expectations of how the browser back button should behave can be dire. During our usability tests it has been the direct cause of abandonment, with users leaving test sites under much swearing and cursing (even from the well educated, mid-aged and otherwise calm test subjects)."

     Thanks,
     Greg

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: finishing up MS04
From: Richards, Jan <jrichards@ocadu.ca>
To: UAWG <w3c-wai-ua@w3.org>
Date: 9/3/2014 12:01 PM
> Hi Jeanne,
>
> Oh right, that threw me off...
>
> So are you thinking we should go back to?:
>
> Retracing a navigation step is important for users with cognitive issues that involve memory and attention. This is also important for users whose means of input is not 100% accurate, such as speech input users or users with fine motor challenges. It is also beneficial for users for whom navigation is time consuming, tiring, or painful, because it allows them to avoid having to re-enter long URLs.
>
> -Jan
>
>
>
> (MR) JAN RICHARDS
> PROJECT MANAGER
> INCLUSIVE DESIGN RESEARCH CENTRE (IDRC)
> OCAD UNIVERSITY
>
> T 416 977 6000 x3957
> F 416 977 9844
> E jrichards@ocadu.ca
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Jeanne Spellman [jeanne@w3.org]
> Sent: September-03-14 3:51 PM
> To: Richards, Jan; UAWG
> Subject: Re: finishing up MS04
>
> I disagree. Although logout isn't an accessibility problem, browsers
> typically give an error message that the content is no longer available.
>    But there are authors that do set up their "checkout" pages so that
> you cannot use the back button. It is sloppy coding, and I hate to give
> them an "out" that the content is no longer available.  It should be
> available. However, that is not the browser's problem.
>
> Maybe I should take out the part about authors coding. It's not relevant
> to user agents.
>
>
>
> On 9/3/2014 10:51 AM, Richards, Jan wrote:
>> I might add a further sentence:
>>
>> An exception can be made when the content on the previous page is no longer available (e.g. when the user has selected a link to logout).
> --
> _______________________________
> Jeanne Spellman
> W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
> jeanne@w3.org
>