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Thread: Auto-refreshing advertisements

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Number of posts in this thread: 10 (In chronological order)

From: Hill, Barry (Accessibility Tester)
Date: Tue, Jan 16 2024 7:19AM
Subject: Auto-refreshing advertisements
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Hi all

A website I am reviewing has third-party advertisements that auto-refresh every minute. As they are third-party, not all the adverts have proper labels or alt text. We're working with procurement to ensure that they will be accessible in the future. As the accessibility cannot be ensured, the developers are wanting to hide them from screen readers, but I don't think they should. Which way is best on that? Also, if they are not hidden from screen readers, I'm assuming that there should be a mechanism to pause the auto-refresh. Should there also be a mechanism to skip to next and previous ad?

Thanks in anticipation.

Barry

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From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Tue, Jan 16 2024 7:32AM
Subject: Re: Auto-refreshing advertisements
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On 16/01/2024 14:19, Hill, Barry (Accessibility Tester) via WebAIM-Forum
wrote:
[...]Also, if they are not hidden from screen readers, I'm assuming that
there should be a mechanism to pause the auto-refresh.

This would be required regardless of screen reader behaviour - non-SR
users will also be affected by things animating/changing/auto-refreshing.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

* https://www.splintered.co.uk/
* https://github.com/patrickhlauke
* https://flickr.com/photos/redux/
* https://mastodon.social/@patrick_h_lauke

From: Chase, DJ
Date: Tue, Jan 16 2024 7:45AM
Subject: Re: Auto-refreshing advertisements
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Hi Barry,

I think it is a good idea to hide the ads from screenreaders in the meantime, but you should know that it would still violate SC 1.1.1 Non-text Content [1].

Besides that, you will need a mechanism to pause or stop the ads regardless of whether they're accessible because of SC 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide [2].

[1]: https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/REC-WCAG22-20231005/#non-text-content
[2]: https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/REC-WCAG22-20231005/#pause-stop-hide

I have linked to WCAG 2.2 here because that is the most recent version, but both of those criteria are also in 2.1.

Cheers,
--
DJ Chase
Digital Accessibility Specialist, NECC
They, Them, Theirs
+1 978 556 3794

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Cc: Hill, Barry (Accessibility Tester)
Subject: [WebAIM] Auto-refreshing advertisements

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Hi all

A website I am reviewing has third-party advertisements that auto-refresh every minute. As they are third-party, not all the adverts have proper labels or alt text. We're working with procurement to ensure that they will be accessible in the future. As the accessibility cannot be ensured, the developers are wanting to hide them from screen readers, but I don't think they should. Which way is best on that? Also, if they are not hidden from screen readers, I'm assuming that there should be a mechanism to pause the auto-refresh. Should there also be a mechanism to skip to next and previous ad?

Thanks in anticipation.

Barry

Information in this email including any attachments may be privileged, confidential and is intended exclusively for the addressee. The views expressed may not be official policy, but the personal views of the originator. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete it from your system. You should not reproduce, distribute, store, retransmit, use or disclose its contents to anyone. Please note we reserve the right to monitor all e-mail communication through our internal and external networks. SKY and the SKY marks are trademarks of Sky Limited and Sky International AG and are used under licence.

Sky UK Limited (Registration No. 2906991), Sky-In-Home Service Limited (Registration No. 2067075), Sky Subscribers Services Limited (Registration No. 2340150) and Sky CP Limited (Registration No. 9513259) are direct or indirect subsidiaries of Sky Limited (Registration No. 2247735). All of the companies mentioned in this paragraph are incorporated in England and Wales and share the same registered office at Grant Way, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 5QD

From: Hayman, Douglass
Date: Tue, Jan 16 2024 9:06AM
Subject: Re: - Auto-refreshing advertisements
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Barry,

This is a great topic to bring up. I've seen some news sites that come up with multiple items that automatically play, some with sound and the steps needed to tab to those and pause or stop them far exceed the requirements. Even as a sighted user of some of those, it is a horrible user experience. On some, the size of the changing advertisements pushes the text I'm currently reading up/or down, interrupting the flow of reading content. They could code in right up there with skip to main content, "stop all advisement audio and video" as a button.

None of the advertisements or featured content should autoplay with sound or movement without stopping within the what 3 or 5 seconds.

Do these obnoxious, self-focused advertisers even create accessible multimedia ads? Does the Cadillac advertisement's closed caption say, "Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll intro riff playing" Do they audio describe "A Cadillac races across a bridge with an older wealthy man driving while his trophy wife sits in the passenger seat smiling at him adoringly."

Doug Hayman
IT Accessibility Coordinator
Information Technology
Olympic College
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
(360) 475-7632



From: Guy Hickling
Date: Wed, Jan 17 2024 11:10AM
Subject: Re: Auto-refreshing advertisements
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Just for a change in this forum, I can take my accessibility hat off and
give a user's viewpoint. For me, these obnoxious auto-changing adverts are
a nightmare. I find it very hard to concentrate on the web content I want
to read when, right beside it, sits one (or even more) of these ever
changing things.

The Google example is one of the worst. Google makes all those pious claims
of how accessibility-compliant it is, then it ruins millions of websites
with it's WCAG-defying adverts!

So, as a user trying to view content on a page, what do I do? - and I
expect many other people who get distracted by these things do similar
things. There's no way to stop the ads, of course (Google wouldn't want
that, would it!) So, I first of all try narrowing the window box to force
the ad to sit below or above the content I'm reading. If that works, then I
can scroll the page up or down to move the offending ads out of sight. If
that works, I can carry on reading the page content.

But I should not have to do that. And sometimes that doesn't work. Next I
may even try zooming to larger text to try to force the ad out of sight,
but that doesn't always work either. And sometimes there may be more than
one of these ad displays, and that makes it more difficult to push them all
out of sight.

Now, website owners please take note. By the time I've done all the above
I'm getting angry. And, especially if my efforts to hide the ad have
failed, I am very likely at this point, if not before, to simply abandon
your website and look elsewhere for whatever product or information I am
looking for. There are plenty more places to find things. Rather than
struggle to stay on your site with the ad display permanently cavorting
around in front of me!

The solution, website owners, is DO NOT PLACE GOOGLE'S AUTO-CHANGING
ADVERTS ON YOUR WEBSITE!!! You WILL lose potential customers - I cannot
emphasise that enough. And oh - Google take note - I often click on your
static adverts when they interest me, but I almost NEVER click on one of
your auto-changing things. I'm too busy trying to hide it out of sight.

Oh and one final thing. If you place several auto-changing ads on the same
web page, I immediately assume you are not a quality author or influencer,
but have only created a low quality site to try and make some money from
advertising. That's one of the reasons I will quickly leave your website!

P.S. If anyone here wants to republish my comments, or send them to Google,
or to businesses using their adverts, please feel free to do so. The more
we can step on these obnoxious advertisers and tread them into the mud, the
better. I repeat to them, you WILL lose customers, and waste your adverting
spending.

From: Eller, Meagan M
Date: Wed, Jan 17 2024 2:16PM
Subject: Re: [External] Auto-refreshing advertisements
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I totally agree, Guy! I frequently leave sites that have auto playing and auto changing ads. Especially when the ads follow so they always appear onscreen as I scroll. Sometimes I can open a reader view of an article, but that's not always possible.

Best,
Meagan

From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > on behalf of Guy Hickling < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Date: Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at 1:11 PM
To: webaim-forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: [External] Re: [WebAIM] Auto-refreshing advertisements
[You don't often get email from = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = . Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ]

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Just for a change in this forum, I can take my accessibility hat off and
give a user's viewpoint. For me, these obnoxious auto-changing adverts are
a nightmare. I find it very hard to concentrate on the web content I want
to read when, right beside it, sits one (or even more) of these ever
changing things.

The Google example is one of the worst. Google makes all those pious claims
of how accessibility-compliant it is, then it ruins millions of websites
with it's WCAG-defying adverts!

So, as a user trying to view content on a page, what do I do? - and I
expect many other people who get distracted by these things do similar
things. There's no way to stop the ads, of course (Google wouldn't want
that, would it!) So, I first of all try narrowing the window box to force
the ad to sit below or above the content I'm reading. If that works, then I
can scroll the page up or down to move the offending ads out of sight. If
that works, I can carry on reading the page content.

But I should not have to do that. And sometimes that doesn't work. Next I
may even try zooming to larger text to try to force the ad out of sight,
but that doesn't always work either. And sometimes there may be more than
one of these ad displays, and that makes it more difficult to push them all
out of sight.

Now, website owners please take note. By the time I've done all the above
I'm getting angry. And, especially if my efforts to hide the ad have
failed, I am very likely at this point, if not before, to simply abandon
your website and look elsewhere for whatever product or information I am
looking for. There are plenty more places to find things. Rather than
struggle to stay on your site with the ad display permanently cavorting
around in front of me!

The solution, website owners, is DO NOT PLACE GOOGLE'S AUTO-CHANGING
ADVERTS ON YOUR WEBSITE!!! You WILL lose potential customers - I cannot
emphasise that enough. And oh - Google take note - I often click on your
static adverts when they interest me, but I almost NEVER click on one of
your auto-changing things. I'm too busy trying to hide it out of sight.

Oh and one final thing. If you place several auto-changing ads on the same
web page, I immediately assume you are not a quality author or influencer,
but have only created a low quality site to try and make some money from
advertising. That's one of the reasons I will quickly leave your website!

P.S. If anyone here wants to republish my comments, or send them to Google,
or to businesses using their adverts, please feel free to do so. The more
we can step on these obnoxious advertisers and tread them into the mud, the
better. I repeat to them, you WILL lose customers, and waste your adverting
spending.

From: Sandy Feldman
Date: Wed, Jan 17 2024 2:35PM
Subject: Re: [External]Auto-refreshing advertisements
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When you close a google ad it asks why, and gives a list to of reasons
to select. None of them say "it won't stop moving around!", but really,
that's my main reason.

Sandy
https://sandyfeldman.com
https://www.a11yready.com


On 2024-01-17 4:16 p.m., Eller, Meagan M wrote:
> I totally agree, Guy! I frequently leave sites that have auto playing and auto changing ads. Especially when the ads follow so they always appear onscreen as I scroll. Sometimes I can open a reader view of an article, but that's not always possible.
>
> Best,
> Meagan
>
> From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > on behalf of Guy Hickling < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Date: Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at 1:11 PM
> To: webaim-forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Subject: [External] Re: [WebAIM] Auto-refreshing advertisements
> [You don't often get email from = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = . Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ]
>
> This message was sent from a non-IU address. Please exercise caution when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources.
>
>
> Just for a change in this forum, I can take my accessibility hat off and
> give a user's viewpoint. For me, these obnoxious auto-changing adverts are
> a nightmare. I find it very hard to concentrate on the web content I want
> to read when, right beside it, sits one (or even more) of these ever
> changing things.
>
> The Google example is one of the worst. Google makes all those pious claims
> of how accessibility-compliant it is, then it ruins millions of websites
> with it's WCAG-defying adverts!
>
> So, as a user trying to view content on a page, what do I do? - and I
> expect many other people who get distracted by these things do similar
> things. There's no way to stop the ads, of course (Google wouldn't want
> that, would it!) So, I first of all try narrowing the window box to force
> the ad to sit below or above the content I'm reading. If that works, then I
> can scroll the page up or down to move the offending ads out of sight. If
> that works, I can carry on reading the page content.
>
> But I should not have to do that. And sometimes that doesn't work. Next I
> may even try zooming to larger text to try to force the ad out of sight,
> but that doesn't always work either. And sometimes there may be more than
> one of these ad displays, and that makes it more difficult to push them all
> out of sight.
>
> Now, website owners please take note. By the time I've done all the above
> I'm getting angry. And, especially if my efforts to hide the ad have
> failed, I am very likely at this point, if not before, to simply abandon
> your website and look elsewhere for whatever product or information I am
> looking for. There are plenty more places to find things. Rather than
> struggle to stay on your site with the ad display permanently cavorting
> around in front of me!
>
> The solution, website owners, is DO NOT PLACE GOOGLE'S AUTO-CHANGING
> ADVERTS ON YOUR WEBSITE!!! You WILL lose potential customers - I cannot
> emphasise that enough. And oh - Google take note - I often click on your
> static adverts when they interest me, but I almost NEVER click on one of
> your auto-changing things. I'm too busy trying to hide it out of sight.
>
> Oh and one final thing. If you place several auto-changing ads on the same
> web page, I immediately assume you are not a quality author or influencer,
> but have only created a low quality site to try and make some money from
> advertising. That's one of the reasons I will quickly leave your website!
>
> P.S. If anyone here wants to republish my comments, or send them to Google,
> or to businesses using their adverts, please feel free to do so. The more
> we can step on these obnoxious advertisers and tread them into the mud, the
> better. I repeat to them, you WILL lose customers, and waste your adverting
> spending.
> > > > > > > >

From: Hill, Barry (Accessibility Tester)
Date: Fri, Jan 19 2024 2:43AM
Subject: Re: Auto-refreshing advertisements
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I have another question on this topic. Regardless of whether or not the ad is accessible, should the screen reader user be notified of the ad updating every one minute via aria? My thinking is that if there is a mechanism to pause the advert refresh, then this might be sufficient to inform the SR user that they are refreshable adverts. However, if they miss that pause button...

As always, thanks in anticipation.

Cheers

Barry



Information in this email including any attachments may be privileged, confidential and is intended exclusively for the addressee. The views expressed may not be official policy, but the personal views of the originator. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and delete it from your system. You should not reproduce, distribute, store, retransmit, use or disclose its contents to anyone. Please note we reserve the right to monitor all e-mail communication through our internal and external networks. SKY and the SKY marks are trademarks of Sky Limited and Sky International AG and are used under licence.

Sky UK Limited (Registration No. 2906991), Sky-In-Home Service Limited (Registration No. 2067075), Sky Subscribers Services Limited (Registration No. 2340150) and Sky CP Limited (Registration No. 9513259) are direct or indirect subsidiaries of Sky Limited (Registration No. 2247735). All of the companies mentioned in this paragraph are incorporated in England and Wales and share the same registered office at Grant Way, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 5QD

From: Hayman, Douglass
Date: Fri, Jan 19 2024 9:10AM
Subject: Re: Auto-refreshing advertisements
← Previous message | Next message →

Barry,

Good questions. My thoughts are that any be it advertisements or internal audio/video clips, these should be under the control of the web site visitor to pause or stop to meet the intent of the accessibility guidelines. Obviously, the advertisers want to be in our face over and over again.

The only thing I can imagine being legit in providing a web visitor with refreshed content that they don't control would be perhaps a tornado warning or a lockdown message about a shooter on the premises.

I'd looked into what overlays claimed to do to stop motion and one that I checked out seem to merely take a screenshot of the page and present the user with that static image. That would be fine if the user had no vision impairment. Or perhaps new versions would do quick and accurate optical character recognition and properly layout the structure, providing access to all of the content, free of moving images and unwanted sounds.

Looking just now at a local Seattle news site and a national news site, both load with a video player going. The sound is fortunately muted by default on both. But tabbing to go to the player is not within the first 20 or 30 tab clicks. Loading NVDA screen reader, one site has landmarks and lands on the video player, the other does not. Both fail due to having movement that one can't tab to and stop within what, 3? 5? Tab clicks?

A colleague who uses a screen reader full time commented on how some paywalled news sites work fine for him. The pop-up blocking a view of the article is no impediment for him. And perhaps the visually distracting ad that bugs the sighted user but is muted, is no problem for the screen reading user. But what about the person using a sip and puff switch to navigate a web site, or the speech recognition using person with a spinal cord injury?



Doug Hayman
IT Accessibility Coordinator
Information Technology
Olympic College
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
(360) 475-7632



From: Barry
Date: Wed, Feb 07 2024 1:23AM
Subject: Re: Auto-refreshing advertisements
← Previous message | No next message

Thanks, Doug. Just found your reply in my bulk folder. Got to say, I totally agree with all you say. I'm particularly sympathetic to people who rely on switch like sip and puff. However, the auto-update in my case is for a static advert that changes to a different static advert every 60 seconds. This process is automated, and the adverts are randomly selected.

Cheers

Barry