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Re: WCAG 2.4.2 (page title) and native mobile apps

for

From: joe
Date: Apr 18, 2020 6:14PM

Hi All,

I would like to disagree with what has been said. Screen titles are very
important for native mobile apps. The concept of a screen title is very
clearly defined for both iOS and Android.

The are the title of the current View (iOS) and Activity (Android). Screen
title are also very useful for screen reader users when they are present.
The are more helpful on Android than in iOS IMO.

On Android, the screen title (if present) is announced when a new screen
loads, can be updated dynamically if the content changes, and if the app id
resumed (by choosing it from the recent apps, it is automatically announced
once the app loads from its saved state.

On iOS, the screen title is automatically marked as a heading. If the View
is part of a flow and uses a NavigationController, when the user goes to a
new screen, the Back button visually shows the title of the previous screen
and this title is included in the back buttons accessible name.

The screen title can be set on Android by using an android:label attribute
in the AndroidManifest.xml file
(https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element) or by
using the .setTitle method in the Java file at runtime
(https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity#setTitle(java.
lang.CharSequence)). The title can be set on iOS by using a
UINavigationController or a UINavigationItem and setting the title property
of the UINavigationItem
(https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uinavigationitem/1624965-ti
tle). A UINavigationController automatically added a UINavigationItem. It
can also be set in xCode. In iOS the entire header is called a Navigation
Bar
(https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/bars/navi
gation-bars/)

While the titles technically are for developer use, TalkBack and VoiceOver
do take advantage of them.

Thankx,
Joe Humbert
Accessibility Champion
Native Mobile accessibility Novice