WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Multipoint and Path-based gestures - Websites in desktop

for

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Sep 14, 2020 4:45AM

On 14/09/2020 06:12, Vaibhav Saraf wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Going through WCAG 2.1 SC 2.5.1 which talks about providing single point
> alternatives for multipoint and path-based gestures leaves with some doubts.
>
> The sc talks about mouse pointer as well among all other techniques making
> it look applicable on web pages in desktop/laptop as well.

I'll interject briefly that desktop/laptop can also have touch
interfaces - see for instance Microsoft Surface. So distinguishing
between "mobile/tablet" and "desktop/laptop" becomes less meaningful as
time goes on.

> However, I
> cannot relate it to an example which I can encounter on any website.
>
> I was going through one of the interpretations of the success criteria,
> there in the example the author indicated swipe up as a path-based gesture.

Path-based: the pointer must follow a specific path. Think for instance
a slider that is badly coded and requires the user to keep the mouse
steady along the track...if they move too far out of the track, the
slider fails/snaps back to the previous value. I've seen naive slider
implementations that fail this way.

> Some websites like Google Maps web view exercise zoom in/out based on mouse
> wheel motion forward or backward. Can this be regarded as a path-based
> gesture as well.

Mouse wheel is not multi-point, nor is it path-based.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke