Rapidly flashing animations and web accessibility

Hi,

I'm very big on web accessibility, and one of the things that this includes is the non-use of flashing animations, which potentially could trigger Seizures in susceptible individuals.

Now this is not a request to disallow animated avatars, but rather a request to consider putting in a rule that disallows images such the following user uses as their avatar: http://www.pokecommunity.com/member.php?u=127084

Thanks,
Fractal

That avatar is freakin' awesome! But yeah it may be bad for some.
However how many people are susceptible, that are actually on this forum?

Kyen said:

That avatar is freakin' awesome! But yeah it may be bad for some.
However how many people are susceptible, that are actually on this forum?

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The amount of people doesn't matter, the point I am making is that Web sites should try to be accessible to everyone, even if there are say 3/4 disabled people on this forum.

I agree that these flashes could be potentially dangerous to the sensitive.

But I don't think a rule would be necessary since common sense is already at hand that those kind of people are already recommended not to watch screens anyways.

And even IF they did disobey, most of them know of "Scrolling Away" and "Disabling Avatars"

Plus, not many members with animation avatars know how to check properties and FPS. A rule like that can easily be unfair to younger populations that like to grab those images off the internet and don't know how to handle editing programs.

You're right...it's like that canceled Pokemon episode, only with avatars instead of explosions!

Anyway, this really should be fixed.

not to mention that the duration and frame rate is different as well as the image is a very limited size..

I don't think its an accessibility issue at all.. more of a possible personal concern. now if the whole screen was flashing at the correct frame rate...

Exactly. It is up to the individual who is afflicted with seizure prone conditions to assess the risk of daily computer use.
In the UserCP you can disable the display of others' avatars/signature banners. So it's not that the site is inaccessible by any means.

As previously mentioned, these people are taught how to avoid flashing objects and such. Also, you can limit the risk of a seizure by limiting your computer use time to about 2 hours, with 15 minute breaks whenever needed. If they do glimpse something flashing rapidly and are prone to seizures, then they can always close their eyes and quickly navigate away from the page, preferrably to the UserCP where they can just disable the source of the offending image.

I agree.
Flashing lights have been known to cause seizures.
I see no flashing lights, just a very quick FPS rate.

A good tool for any seizure prone person to have is FF3+AdblockPlus. They can right click on the offending image and 'adblock' the image so they wont see it ever again. I do this for any advertisement or annoying image I see

▲ said:

I see no flashing lights, just a very quick FPS rate.

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A quick succession of white to black to white and so forth equates to flashing.

Zazie Rainyday said:

They can right click on the offending image and 'adblock' the image so they wont see it ever again.

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... So that's how it works... Well that sucks. D:

Cassino said:

... So that's how it works... Well that sucks. D:

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Where is this thread going...

Is this what you call a flashing image:

Kyen said:

Where is this thread going...

Is this what you call a flashing image:

Spoiler:

Click to expand...

Gah, my eyes... yes, probably not fast enough to cause a seizure though.
But why did you quote me where I was saying something about adblock?

Well, as said before, it is possible to make even that into a seizure program. But sensitive people may get hurt by that avi and I have watched episode 38 a few times and nothing happened except a blue dot in my eyes, so I really, don't care. Either way, we can get rid of avis and sigs, so we're done here.