Opinion needed for WCAG Pointer Gestures (2.5.1)

[AccessibilityEnthusiastic]

Hi Team,

I need your opinion on WCAG Pointer Gestures (2.5.1).

In this video, additional options (“Tell me something”) appear when the user performs a horizontal swipe gesture. In this case, does this fail WCAG 2.5.1.

As per WCAG: Understanding Pointer Gestures

Example given:
A news site has a horizontal content slider with hidden news teasers that can be moved into the viewport via a fast horizontal swipe/flicking motion. It also offers forward and backward arrow buttons for single-point activation to navigate to adjacent slider content.

Key Terms:
Single pointer interactions include clicks, double clicks, taps, dragging motions, and single-finger swipe gestures.
Multipoint interactions involve two or more pointers at the same time (e.g., two-finger pinch, or mouse + stylus).

Path-based gestures:
A path-based gesture involves not just the endpoints, but how the pointer moves between them. Swiping is an example of this, as it’s recognized when the user moves in a (mostly) straight line from start to end.

👉 In this specific case, the movement can be in any direction—not just a straight swipe. So should this be considered a pass of WCAG 2.5.1 Pointer Gestures?

and also under Key terms: Single pointer interactions included single-finger swipe gestures so can we consider this a pass?

2.5.1.mp4

[patrickhlauke]

that looks like a drag, not a swipe, so passes 2.5.1 but may fail 2.5.7 dragging movement

[AccessibilityEnthusiastic]

@patrickhlauke As per 2.5.7 Dragging Movements, https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/dragging-movements.html
the requirement is that any functionality using a dragging movement must also be operable by a single pointer without dragging, unless dragging is essential or controlled by the user agent.

The definition of a single pointer includes https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/dragging-movements.html#dfn-single-pointer
clicks, double-clicks, taps, dragging motions, and single-finger swipe gestures.
Since a single-finger swipe is considered a valid single pointer input, it should pass 2.5.7.

What do you think?

[mraccess77]

I think this raises a good question though as the note seems to say single pointer swipes are ok without an alternative which I don't think was the intent of the criterion at time of authoring.

[patrickhlauke]

single pointer
an input modality that only targets a single point on the page/screen at a time – such as a mouse, single finger on a touch screen, or stylus.

Note
Single pointer interactions include clicks, double clicks, taps, dragging motions, and single-finger swipe gestures. In contrast, multipoint interactions involve the use of two or more pointers at the same time, such as two-finger interactions on a touchscreen, or the simultaneous use of a mouse and stylus.

that note gives examples of the various types of interactions that use a single pointer. what counts is that they all only involved a single pointer.

Then, the dragging SC demands that there be another single pointer way to operate the thing that does not involve dragging.

Conversely, the pointer gestures SC demands that there be another way to operate the thing with a single pointer that does not require a path-based gesture (e.g. a swipe)

the only case where these two would both pass (and make it a problem still for users who do need a single pointer interface that can just be operated with clicks/taps) is if the thing allowed both dragging and (path-based restrictred) swiping. which i don't think would be possible - the dragging part would need to be freeform, not path-restricted. as soon as you start interacting with the thing, you'd going to be dragging. can't then have a path-restricted gesture by definition, I'd say?

[patrickhlauke]

keeping in mind that some of the confusion comes from the fact that "swipe" often means different things to different people. to be clear, "swipe" in the way WCAG intended it means a (generally fast) flick action that must be performed in a very specific path, otherwise it's not recognised.

[patrickhlauke]

I think this may actually warrant a note in the understanding documents for both SCs (in short, outlining that a gesture can't really be the single pointer alternative for dragging - as that's not usually technically feasible, unless you do some weird stuff like try to detect at first if some interaction is a swipe, and only if it's NOT "catch up" and pretend you were processing a drag motion all along, with a weird initial jolt/jump - and vice-versa

#4561