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phetsims / molecules-and-light

"Molecules and Light" is an educational simulation in HTML5, by PhET Interactive Simulations.
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Wording for photon emitter aria-valuetext #234

Closed jessegreenberg closed 4 years ago

jessegreenberg commented 4 years ago

Currently, the aria-valuetext is something like "Infrared photon emits quickly"

which is read every time the photon emitter slider is moved.

I have two thoughts about this wording. 1) The photon isn't emitting anything, the light source is emitting the photons. Would it be more correct to say "Infrared light source emits photons quickly"? Or "Infrared photons emitted quickly"? 2) I still wonder if this wording will make the user think we are referring to photon speed when this is really about photon emission rate. Would it be more correct to say something like "Infrared light source emits photon at a quick rate"? I know this is wordy, but just want to make sure that the current shorter version is not incorrect.

Just two considerations, if the current wording is indeed accurate, feel free to close.

brettfiedler commented 4 years ago

You could put the adverb on the verb instead: "Infrared Light Source quickly emits photons"

I agree the current text is confusing. From a content side I'm fine with the second, longer suggestion as well.

terracoda commented 4 years ago

Great question @jessegreenberg. The stated values in the design doc should actaully be region ranges and not individual values.

That said, I don't think we have thought through this interaction very clearly. This is actually quite tricky! We have not thought through how the aria-valuetext will support the learner's interaction on focus and then again when they are adjusting the slider.

I think when the learner lands on the slider, they need to know what light source is currently selected and what the current emission rate is.

I like "Light Source" but could it be made dynamic?

@jessegreenberg is it possible to make the slider's label dynamic?

Then given the current 4 region rages, the slider could sound something like this on focus:

At a region change, would it possible to just say the changed rate?

If a dynamic label is possible, maybe better regions names would be slow, medium, fast? For example:

terracoda commented 4 years ago

But, first question @jessegreenberg, is a dynamic label possible?

jessegreenberg commented 4 years ago

@BLFiedler I like "Infrared Light Source quickly emits photons".

@terracoda I also like "Infrared Light Source, slider, photon rate fast"

is it possible to make the slider's label dynamic?

Yes it is, and would be a simple change.

At a region change, would it possible to just say the changed rate?

We could set this as the aria-valuetext, but I don't think there is a guarantee that the screen reader won't also say other things. So it might end up as "Infrared Light Source, very slow".

This sounds more complicated though, what are the benefits of changing the value-text like this?

terracoda commented 4 years ago

@jessegreenberg, I didn't finish out the examples. I am not sure I understand your concern, but we could also set the aria-valuetext to:

And then it only get read out at region changes. The regions are quite small in the case of this slider, so maybe everything will be perfect.

jessegreenberg commented 4 years ago

Ah I see - so it isn't shorter text when the region changes, but ONLY read any text when region changes. Hmm, I don't think that is generally how screen readers handle reporting of the changing slider value so I don't think that would be possible.

terracoda commented 4 years ago

Generally, if there is no change in value, nothing is read out.

terracoda commented 4 years ago

For keyboard we often have to jig things to avoid blank steps, and for mouse we have to adjust the utterance queue to prevent too many things from piling up.

It's a challenge. I am willing to try these 4 regions:

terracoda commented 4 years ago

@BLFiedler and @Matthew-phet, for me it's important to think about the name of the slider, and any responses (object responses in this case) together with the help text for the interaction. I try to economize phrases in object responses and context responses by strategically placing certain key content words in any of the three places. So if the word "emit" can't go in the object response, maybe it can go in the help text.

I'm just putting all three here for reflection:

So, in the help text we have 3 key words: "emit", "photons", and "rates". And if we have a dynamic label "Infrared" will be read out on focus.

Now, given that the help text is likely to be read at least once, what else does the learner need to know about the interaction when they adjust it?

Currently on focus (with VoiceOver) I hear:

Maybe we don't need to repeat "light source"?

terracoda commented 4 years ago

@jessegreenberg, I am hearing the label of the slider repeat often when an adjustment is made, but this doesn't happen on other sliders we have implemented. It doesn't happen in JT or GFL, for example.

There is something different about the Light Source slider.

terracoda commented 4 years ago

If the label was "Infrared Photon Rate" slider, words describing the actual rates might work perfectly on their own? Imagine as an example, does this work? Maybe not, maybe? These are potential object responses fired on focus:

brettfiedler commented 4 years ago

Ooohhhh. I do like that last suggestion @terracoda. I think there are multiple places for the user to be made aware there is a light source there, and if they're remind when it's off, I think calling that slider the {EM spectrum} Photon Rate is very informative and concise. The relevant part is the thing they can change which is the photon rate. I think it is more important to know there are equally space photons heading at the molecule (that you can change the rate of), than knowing they are coming from a particular source. The learning goals of the sim are around the interaction of the photons & molecules, not the light sources (which are really just slightly different looking boxes as far as anyone can tell from the sim)

I think eventually you will learn enough physics, chemistry & math that you won't need Amy or me! 😆

terracoda commented 4 years ago

@BLFiedler, I think my suggestion of "Photon Rate" slider is a re-hash of something @arouinfar already pointed out to me when we first looked at this sim, so I am not yet ready to let go of yours and @arouinfar 's content knowledge ;-)

I do enjoy diving deep into the content and how best to present it in an interactive experience, though!

jessegreenberg commented 4 years ago

I am hearing the label of the slider repeat often when an adjustment is made, but this doesn't happen on other sliders we have implemented. It doesn't happen in JT or GFL, for example.

Oh I see! OK I will make a new issue to investigate this.

OK it sounds like we have a consensus in https://github.com/phetsims/molecules-and-light/issues/234#issuecomment-564070461 I will implement that.

terracoda commented 4 years ago

@BLFiedler and I have consensus, and hopefully @Matthew-phet likes it too. I'll give him the heads up. This change may require a couple of tweaks to the Screen Summary. I'll read through the Screen Summary and post a new issue for any updates.

Matthew-Moore240 commented 4 years ago

Yup! This looks like a good change

jessegreenberg commented 4 years ago

Great! This is done in the above commit, @terracoda or @Matthew-phet can you please review>?

terracoda commented 4 years ago

@jessegreenberg, the dynamic Photon Rate slider and its 4 spedds sound awesome! Thanks @jessegreenberg!