Approaches to A11Y in WebVR

Thoughts and user feedback

Roland Dubois�info@gravr.io | @rolanddubois

Trend towards spatial hand/gesture motion control

Kinemic

Leap Motion

Gest

Nod

MYO

Bixi

Overview of A11Y interaction

People with Visual Disabilities

• Zoom, Contrast, Color (Invert)
• Screen readers (Desktop), VoiceOver (iOS), TalkBack (Android)
• Keyboard input/output (Braille for Desktop and Mobile)

People with Motor Disabilities

• Customized input controls (Gamepad API)
• Voice Controls - Siri (iOS), Bixby (Samsung), Google Assistant, (Alexa)
• Keyboard input (Brain fingers, Head mouse, Sip-puff Breeze Switch) more here

Accessible Input Devices

Search for commonalities for A11Y input

Most basic navigation

• Keyboard: Tab(+Shift), Space, Return, Arrow Keys
• GamePad (API): 1(A), 2(B), 3(X), 4(Y), Stick/Cross
• TouchScreen (Gestures): Tap, Double tap, Touch & hold, Drag/Swipe/Flick, Pinch/Spread, Twist/Rotate (see VO Gestures)
• AR Hand Gestures (Hololens): Bloom, Air Tap, Tap & Hold (Gestures in combination with gaze to focus on item)
• WebVR: Gaze/Fuse, Gaze & Hold, Gaze & Press

Note: Screen readers (Desktop) - JAWS & NVDA (Windows) and VoiceOver (Mac OS X) “command key” option for combinations like CTRL+ALT+U (to bring up the Rotor), CTRL+ALT+H (to jump to the next heading)

Lowest Common Denominator

Challenges

• Screen Readers can break immersion
• VoiceOver needs to be turned off (changing default gestures)
• WAI-ARIA should be built into the framework (A-Frame) see component
• Objects need to be focusable and show focus selection (but only when raycaster could intersect / visible to the camera)
• Focused object needs to draw attention even (especially) if not within �the viewer FOV (see screenshot)
• Loading screen to onboard a11y features
• Skip Links & Bypass Blocks for VR
• WCAG (2.1) pointer-events (incl target sizes) for �inputs like mouse/gesture - extend to raycaster

A-Frame GUI Component

@knowbility

“...make a11y features obvious and visible or don’t have them at all...”

- Josh Straub, Editor-In-Chief, D.A.G.E.R System (@DAGERSYSTEM) at OC4

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Who am I / and send me feedback

Roland Dubois�info@gravr.io | @rolanddubois

Whats next:�https://rdub80.github.io/gravr-a11y-demo/app/�- Extent test environment and share findings�- Publish a11y component��https://rdub80.github.io/aframe-gui/�- Integrate WAI-ARIA and GRAVR API