[whatwg] Spec should require UAs to have control to mute/ pause audio/ video

[Bruce Lawson]

On Fri, 08 May 2009 02:10:20 +0100, Tab Atkins Jr. <jackalmage at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 10:17 AM, Bruce Lawson <brucel at opera.com> wrote:

>> Should autoplay be removed as an attribute of audio and video, precisely
>> to remove such annoyance from people who rely on aural browsing? While
>> there are video sites such as youTube that do play videos automatically,
>> others such as vimeo don't. Is there an archive that lists the use-cases
>> for autoplay and contrasts it with the "annoyance" and accessibility
>> issues?.

I'm convinced by Simon Pieters that removing the autoplay attribute  
wouldn't solve matters as people would just use script, and a browser  
option that disables autoplay across the board is better.

But that adds weight to  my greater argument for a mandatory control on  
autoplayed media allowing user to mute sound. Relying in the operating  
system's volume control is not the option as that mutes the offending  
sound *and* screenreader output, so the rest of the content is inaudible.

> I don't see why this should be a browser requirement.  UAs are
> *allowed* to provide such a facility to their users, so if your UA
> doesn't, complain until they do!

Perfect solution for those who live in Utopia. But as many users neither  
choose their browsers, or are unable to change them, it's better to  
require it of the browser.

bruce



-- 
Hang loose and stay groovy,

Bruce Lawson
Web Evangelist
www.opera.com (work)
www.brucelawson.co.uk (personal)