Test for Technique G170: Control near the beginning of the Web page that turns off sounds that play automatically

[hannolans]

http://www.w3.org/TR/2014/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20140311/G170

Applicability

• page with audio content automaticcally playing

Background

The intent of this technique is to allow a user to turn off sounds that start automatically when a page loads. The control to turn off the sounds should be located near the beginning of the page to allow the control to be easily and quickly discovered by users. This is useful for those who utilize assistive technologies (such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, switch mechanisms, etc.) and those who may not (such as those with cognitive, learning and language disabilities).

In this technique, an author includes a control that makes it possible for users to turn off any sounds that are played automatically. The control should be keyboard operable, located early in the tab and reading order, and clearly labeled to indicate that it will turn off the sounds that are playing.

Examples

• A Web page contains a time-based media presentation that includes an audio track as well as an animated video describing how to repair a lawnmower engine. The page contains 2 buttons that say "Pause" and "Stop", which give the user control over when and if the time-based media plays.
• A Web page contains an embedded short film. The page contains a button that says "Pause the movie", which allows the user to pause the film.
• A Web page contains a Flash presentation that includes video and audio. The page contains a button that says "Turn off multimedia", which allows the user to stop any video and audio from playing.

Test procedure

• Load a Web page.
• Check for music or sounds that start automatically.
• Check that a control that allows the user to turn off the sounds is provided near the beginning of the page.

QUAIL

applicable only if sounds plays automatically. If we don't have sound on page load, this technique is not apllicable, so this is a precondition test.
HTML5: page with any mediaelement with property autoplay = true or muted = false, paused = false(?)

• flash objects are not detectable if the play sound afaik.
• specific video libaries has API's to get the status:
• JW player javascript API has getState() returning IDLE, PLAYING, PAUSED or BUFFERING
• YouTube javascript API has player.getPlayerState() returning -1 unstarted, 0 – ended, 1 – playing, 2 – paused, 3 – buffering, 5 – video cued
• 'near the beginning of the page' is a bit vague, for example a YouTube page plays automatically, and has a pause button, but not at the beginning of the page.
• we probably need two tests: for each video/audio object and for the page (see F23).

Relationship

Note that the failure technique F23 seems to only applies if there is NOWHERE on the page a pause button. So this technique passes if a pause button is at the beginning of the page, but the failure only triggers if there is no pause button in the whole page.