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Re: WCAG 2.1 SC 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose - TestingMethodology

for

From: Mark Rogers
Date: Sep 28, 2018 5:52AM

This makes it a bit difficult to test this automatically. It's
difficult to surmise whether a form is collecting information about
THE user vs. information about SOME OTHER user. This SC would only
apply to the former.

The 'about the user' requirement being hard for software to determine presents an interesting problem for plug-ins (or any other user agent) consuming autocomplete to enhance presentation. They have no way of knowing if the autocomplete attribute is 'about the user' or about something else.

For example, an online tax form for non-profits might use autocomplete='organization' and autocomplete='street-address' to make it easier to complete. That seems like it could interfere with the input purpose autocomplete use outlined in SC 1.3.5 and cause problems with the WCAG Non-Interference requirement (e.g. if the AT overlays an icon indicating 'Your home address here' on the autocomplete='street-address' element.) But removing autocomplete from the form makes filling it harder for anyone who finds typing difficult due to Parkinson's or Arthritis.

Chrome deals with ambiguity of the autocomplete tokens by presenting a dropdown containing alternatives for autocomplete fields - an autocomplete='street-address' field might show addresses for home, work and a relative because you ordered them a gift last birthday.

Is this a problem, or am I missing something here?

Best Regards
Mark

--
Mark Rogers - <EMAIL REMOVED>
PowerMapper Software Ltd - www.powermapper.com
Registered in Scotland No 362274 Quartermile 2 Edinburgh EH3 9GL




On 27/09/2018, 18:16, "WebAIM-Forum on behalf of Jared Smith" < <EMAIL REMOVED> on behalf of <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

Mark Rogers wrote:

> Doesn't the failure only happen when the input field purpose matches one of the input purposes listed:
> https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#input-purposes

Yes, and only when collecting information directly from and about the
user completing the form.

This makes it a bit difficult to test this automatically. It's
difficult to surmise whether a form is collecting information about
THE user vs. information about SOME OTHER user. This SC would only
apply to the former.

> I don't think autocomplete='on' counts as a pass, because ‘on' is the default if autocomplete is not specified, and means user agents use heuristics to guess the input type which seems at odds with the SC.

Correct. This would not provide the level of field purpose
identification necessary for this success criterion.

> I think having more documented successes and failures would help clarify this.

Yep. I know the documentation for this is still in the works.

For what it's worth, I agree with Patrick's assessment of the examples
you provided.

Jared