Archive index

A11y Slackers Gitter Channel Archive 26th of July 2016

What fresh hell is THIS now? - Patrick Lauke
  1. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 01:55
    [cameron] project that uses haptic feedback to assist deaf/hearing impaired: http://kck.st/29Mx0rn
  2. [cameron] > Our first product is the SoundSense, a small device that people with hearing loss can wear to recognize loud sounds and alerts, such as smoke alarms, police sirens, or just a friend calling out on the street or laughing outrageously across a room.
  3. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 02:12
    [cameron] :wave: Eric
  4. Ian Devlin
    @iandevlin
    Jul 26 09:16
    Morning/afternoon/evening all.
  5. Job van Achterberg
    @jkva
    Jul 26 09:18
    Hiya @iandevlin. Can't remember did we tell you about roledrinks.de?
  6. Ian Devlin
    @iandevlin
    Jul 26 09:18
    You did indeed, I have had a look, but I am not here on that date.
  7. Job van Achterberg
    @jkva
    Jul 26 09:18
    Ah yes
  8. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 14:22

    [jakecross] Afternoon all

    I am using "revenge css" to check through a site and it's saying "this element is empty" - now is it just completely unacceptable to have empty elements on the page? A bootstrap glyph hanging out in an empty span for example.

  9. Léonie Watson
    @LJWatson
    Jul 26 14:25
    If the icon is purely visual and the span completely empty, then it's arguably ok. If the icon conveys any purpose/information that isn't available through other means, then it's a problem - because the icon will disappear for Windows high contrast users in IE, and because screen reader users will be oblivious to the info.
  10. If the icon/span thing is inside a link and it's the only content, then it's also a problem because it means the link will have no accessible name.
  11. So context is the thing :)
  12. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 14:27

    [jakecross] The span is inside an <a> and the <a> has an alt and... I just went and checked that it did have the things it should.. it reads <a href="/"><span class="image></span></a>

    Oh dear.

  13. powrsurg
    @powrsurg
    Jul 26 14:32
    I was just sent the spec sheet on something a client was looking for and it made me very sad ...
  14. "508 Compliant – meet minimum accessibility requirements for seeing impaired"
  15. Léonie Watson
    @LJWatson
    Jul 26 14:34
    @Jake the easiest solution is to bring the image to the foreground and give it an alt. Otherwise you can use aria-label on the <a> to provide an accessible name for screen readers, and do some high contrast detection so you can provide an alternative when someone has it enabled.
  16. @powrsurg one day sreen reader users won't be te poster children for accessibility. One day...
  17. I keep meaning to get a tshirt with "Accessibility poster child" printed on it.
  18. powrsurg
    @powrsurg
    Jul 26 14:37
    Yeah, but it really seems to be all anyone thinks about. I've been trying to get us up to WCAG 2 AA, not 508.
  19. Léonie Watson
    @LJWatson
    Jul 26 14:38
    It is the way too many people think about it.
  20. powrsurg
    @powrsurg
    Jul 26 14:38
    I hate that they say they want the minimum requirements.
  21. Léonie Watson
    @LJWatson
    Jul 26 14:38
    Yup.
  22. "What's the minimum I have to do not to get sued?" *shudder.
  23. powrsurg
    @powrsurg
    Jul 26 14:41
    Unless you care about all of your users you truly can't say that you're not truly user-friendly.
  24. Mallory
    @StommePoes
    Jul 26 14:44
    And it's all for the "1 Mythical Blind Guy"
  25. I think developers at least gravitate towards totally-blind == accessibility because the solutions for the problems seem to be mostly "code". Code is what devs can write
  26. and for everyone else, maybe because the web and digital-anythings are seen as a primarily-visual thing, therefore the totally-blinds must have the worst of it
  27. btw I've found if we use fonts for icons and ensure their colours inherit from the text, Windows High Contrast will not hide those icons.
  28. It should work with SVGs whose fill/stroke colours are set to "inherit" as well
  29. er, currentColor I mean (for SVG)
  30. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 14:49

    [jakecross] "minimum requirements..."

    That would be "do nothing" surely?

    "A blind person wouldn't see that though!" -- blind !== accessibility

  31. [jakecross] Here's one from recently, when I mentioned a keyboard user was unable to do [x] that someone using a mouse could do: "A keyboard user wouldn't see that they could do 'that' though...."
  32. Mallory
    @StommePoes
    Jul 26 14:59
    true, we don't get that visual feedback of a mouse cursor turning into a hand, so we need a focus ring
  33. powrsurg
    @powrsurg
    Jul 26 15:04
    I don't think many people get that sighted users use keyboards.
  34. or that keyboard events can be used for totally different things. I've heard of remotes for TVs sending arrow key events
  35. Does anyone know if Windows 10's High Contrast mode changed how they handle icon fonts compared to earlier versions?
  36. Ian Devlin
    @iandevlin
    Jul 26 15:20
    Pondering. Should a date selection that uses three text input fields (for day, month, year) have a label for each text input field or the one overall label that connects to the first input field? :confused:
  37. powrsurg
    @powrsurg
    Jul 26 15:22
    label for each, and all within a fieldset with a legend
  38. Mallory
    @StommePoes
    Jul 26 15:25
    Or if you can't style the legend to look like the other inputs' labels, a p (or maybe label?) styled to look like all the other labels and then link inputs with aria-describedby
  39. only because, I've done the one-label-link-to-first-input thing, and realised if I was shift-tabbing back up, I had two inputs with no names :(
  40. Ian Devlin
    @iandevlin
    Jul 26 15:28
    Thank you both, for some reason I had completely forgotten about fieldset and legent, which is far too embarassing...
  41. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 15:55

    [heidi] hey folks, a client's asked for input on video backgrounds. This is what I’m thinking of replying (suggestions most welcome):

    My suggestions in order of preference are:
    1) Avoid using a video background as it could confuse/disorient some users
    2) Do no auto-play the video, instead provide a play/pause control so that the user can control the video's behaviour
    3) If auto-playing the video, have it last only 5 seconds or less and then stop completely
    4) If auto-playing and longer than 5 sec (e.g. on a loop), provide a pause control

  42. Job van Achterberg
    @jkva
    Jul 26 15:58
    @heidi Also make a point on contrast. What about captioning and sound?
  43. @heidi I like the first two the best ;)
  44. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 15:59
    [heidi] @jkva thanks! they’re aware of contrast, and it’s strictly decorative without any sound.
  45. Job van Achterberg
    @jkva
    Jul 26 16:00
    An optimisation would be to also be able to remove the video, so there's no huge image background of the video still image. But otherwise I think your list covers it well and has its priorities straight @heidi
  46. I would bring up that you're forcing the user to download a big chunk of decorative hubris
  47. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 16:02
    [heidi] @jkva thanks for verifying! Yeah, good point.
  48. [heidi] will mention
  49. powrsurg
    @powrsurg
    Jul 26 16:52
    while captioning may not be required if there is no sound, an audio description should exist
  50. Also, the bandwidth concerns. Not everyone is on a fast connection. Some mobile providers will slow down a user to 2G if they are over their data cap.
  51. I wish I remember who it was, but someone here brought up a major site (Priceline?) that just had done video backgrounds vs a static background during an A/B test. If anyone remembers who it was it might be worth checking out what they ended up with. My gut says that data would suggest the video backgrounds had lower conversion than normal ones. That stuff feels like a newbie-marketer's idea IMHO.
  52. powrsurg
    @powrsurg
    Jul 26 17:01
    Booking.com?
  53. Job van Achterberg
    @jkva
    Jul 26 17:10
    Likely
  54. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 17:34
    [heidi] @powrsurg: thanks for input! Don’t think it’d need an audio description… it’d be similar to a decorative image, right? (alt=“”). I was going to reference the paypal site, but saw they had switched to just a static image!
  55. powrsurg
    @powrsurg
    Jul 26 17:38
    Actually, that brings up a good point. If this is going to be a thing people do now then there should be a mechanism for telling AT that there is really no necessary tracks that should go with a video.
  56. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 17:50
    [davidakennedy] Hey everyone! I started my Accessibility Weekly newsletter up again this week. If you haven’t subscribed, do so here: http://a11yweekly.com/ And if you have anything to share for the newsletter, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
  57. [lequanne] @davidakennedy: Awesome! I am just starting on this journey of web accessibility as a hard-of-hearing person myself. This looks like a great entry point, appreciate you sharing.
  58. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 17:55
    [davidakennedy] @lequanne: No problem! Don’t hesitate to give feedback on the newsletter if you subscribe. It’s super helpful to know what works and what doesn’t.
  59. [lequanne] for sure!
  60. Léonie Watson
    @LJWatson
    Jul 26 18:11
    Rich we think we can sometimes hear you. You're faintly saying hello just now.
  61. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 20:24
    [michiel] davidakennedy: I've been subscribed for a while now, great stuff.
  62. [michiel] I have the role=drinks event to share :) http://roledrinks.nl
  63. [davidakennedy] @michiel: Very cool! Hadn’t heard about that. On the list now. Thanks!
  64. [davidakennedy] One thing I haven’t included much of is conferences and jobs.
  65. [davidakennedy] I should probably do more of it, just hard to keep up with everything. :)
  66. [davidakennedy] By the way, the title and tagline is amazing.
  67. zakim-robot
    @zakim-robot
    Jul 26 20:57
    [michiel] Thanks!
  68. [michiel] I think there's a website somewhere that keeps track of all the accessibility meet ups. Of course, I forgot what it's called.
  69. [michiel] Oh, and there is also one in Germany :D http://roledrinks.de