Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
Add explanation of what "automatic" means in 2.2.2 and 1.4.2, cross-r…
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history 
…eference (#4012)

Closes #2863

This is an alternative to #2906 which
more directly addresses the definition, as well as providing further
explanation/cross-linking for overlapping SCs:

* removes the mention of "audio" from the intent for 2.2.2 Pause, Stop,
Hide, which is clearly aimed at visual content only
* adds a basic explanation of what's meant by "starts automatically" to
2.2.2
* adds relevant cross-references/overlaps to other SCs to 2.2.2
* adds a basic explanation of what's meant by "plays automatically" to
1.4.2 Audio Control
* adds a further clarification to 2.3.3 Animation from Interactions

---------

Co-authored-by: Alastair Campbell <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Mike Gower <[email protected]>
  • Loading branch information
@patrickhlauke @alastc @mbgower
3 people authored Nov 22, 2024
1 parent 104b82b commit aa43153
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Showing 3 changed files with 75 additions and 214 deletions.
71 changes: 9 additions & 62 deletions understanding/20/audio-control.html
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,157 +1,104 @@
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8"></meta>
<meta charset="UTF-8"/>
<title>Understanding Audio Control</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/sources.css" class="remove"/>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Understanding Audio Control</h1>

<section id="brief">
<h2>In brief</h2>
<dl>
<dt>Goal</dt><dd>A page that plays music or sounds doesn't disrupt people.</dd>
<dt>What to do</dt><dd>If you play audio content automatically, let people turn it down or off.</dd>
<dt>Why it's important</dt><dd>Sound distracts some people, and also interferes with screen readers.</dd>
<dt>Why it's important</dt><dd>Sound distracts some people, and also interferes with screen readers.</dd>
</dl>

</section>

<section id="intent">
<h2>Intent of Audio Control</h2>


<p>Individuals who use screen reading software can find it hard to hear the speech output
if there is other audio playing at the same time. This difficulty is exacerbated when
the screen reader's speech output is software based (as most are today) and is controlled
via the same volume control as the sound. Therefore, it is important that the user
be able to turn off the background sound.
be able to turn off the background sound.
</p>
<p>Having control of the volume includes
being able to reduce its volume to zero. Muting the system volume is not "pausing or stopping" the autoplay audio. Both the "pause or stop" and control of audio volume need to be independent of the overall system volume.
</p>

<div class="note">

<p>Playing audio automatically when landing on a page may affect a screen reader user's
ability to find the mechanism to stop it because they navigate by listening and automatically
started sounds might interfere with that navigation. Therefore, we discourage the
practice of automatically starting sounds (especially if they last more than 3 seconds),
and encourage that the sound be
and encourage that the sound be
<em>started</em> by an action initiated by the user after they reach the page, rather than requiring
that the sound be
that the sound be
<em>stopped</em> by an action of the user after they land on the page.
</p>

</div>

<p>See also
<a href="low-or-no-background-audio">1.4.7: Low or No Background Audio</a>.
</p>


<p>See also <a href="low-or-no-background-audio">1.4.7 Low or No Background Audio</a>.</p>
<p>In the context of this Success Criterion, "plays automatically" broadly refers to audio that is not started/played as a direct result of a user's intentional activation. For example, not selecting a link or button.</p>
</section>
<section id="benefits">
<h2>Benefits of Audio Control</h2>


<ul>

<li>Individuals who use screen reading technologies can hear the screen reader without
other sounds playing. This is especially important for those who are hard of hearing
and for those whose screen readers use the system volume (so they cannot turn sound
down and screen reader up).
</li>

<li>This Success Criterion also benefits people who have difficulty focusing on visual
content (including text) when audio is playing.
</li>

</ul>

</section>

<section id="examples">
<h2>Examples of Audio Control</h2>

<ul>
<li>An audio file begins playing automatically when a page is opened. However, the audio
can be stopped by the user by selecting a "silent" link at the top of the page.
</li>
</ul>

</section>

<section id="resources">
<h2>Resources for Audio Control</h2>


</section>

<section id="techniques">
<h2>Techniques for Audio Control</h2>


<section id="sufficient">
<h3>Sufficient Techniques for Audio Control</h3>


<ul>

<li>

<a href="../Techniques/general/G60" class="general">Playing a sound that turns off automatically within three seconds</a>

</li>

<li>

<a href="../Techniques/general/G170" class="general">Providing a control near the top of the Web page that turns off sounds that play automatically</a>

</li>

<li>

<a href="../Techniques/general/G171" class="general">Playing sounds only on user request</a>

</li>

</ul>

</section>

<section id="advisory">
<h3>Additional Techniques (Advisory) for Audio Control</h3>


</section>

<section id="failure">
<h3>Failures for Audio Control</h3>


<ul>

<li>

<a href="../Techniques/failures/F23" class="failure">Failure due to playing a sound longer than 3 seconds where there is no mechanism to
turn it off
</a>

</li>

<li>

<a href="../Techniques/failures/F93" class="failure"></a>

</li>

</ul>

</section>

</section>

</body>
</html>
Loading

0 comments on commit aa43153

Please sign in to comment.