Re-examine appropriateness of 11.7 for websites and mobile applications
This same question has been raised twice:
Pär Lannerö: Apropos Table A.1, could you please explain why clause "11.7 User preferences” is included and how it is meant to be implemented in a web context? Table A.1 is all about web content, but as Note 2 of clause 11 states, requirements for web content are in clause 9. I can see why 11.8 is relevant to table A.1 anyway, since content management software is often implemented as a web application. But if I try to apply 11.7 to web content it seems to imply that all websites must provide a feature to de-activate CSS altogether. How else can a website ensure that user preferences are followed when it comes to choice of font face, focus cursor, and colour? I have barely ever seen a website offering such a feature.
Clause "9.1.4.4 Resize text" already ensures that users can adapt text size without using assistive technology. Applying 11.7 "on top" of that could mean that CSS must only use relative units of measurement (em, rem or %) for font size. That way, user settings in the browser will have an impact on font size. But it is not obvious to me how the same kind of respect for user settings can be achieved for non-scalar properties such as font face, focus cursor and colour.
A Swedish government authority has asked me to try to write explanations (in Swedish) about non-WCAG clauses in Table A.1, with examples and illustrations.
Monika Miazdrová, Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic: The European standard EN 301 549 - Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services is contained in section 11.7 User preferences. From the available information, it is not clear to us in which cases it applies by default to websites and mobile applications.
We see a great similarity of this standard with the standard 9.1.4.8 Visual Presentation (for web) and 11.1.4.8 Visual Presentation (for mobile applications), which are not applied according to EN 301 549. Could you, please, explain the difference between Standard 11.7 User Preferences and 9.1.4.8 Visual Presentation? Please provide guidance on how to interpret standard 11.7 User Preferences in relation to websites and mobile applications. Based on what criteria (techniques) should we verify its fulfillment / failure?