I understand the committee chose not to include brief animations in the standard because of a lack of definitive scientific findings, but it is a real problem and I believe you need to trust people with disabilities who report this as a problem that it is indeed a problem.
Please consider adding the following as a supplemental guidance:
Consider not serving any animation to users who have prefers-reduced-motion set to on. While the feature is called "prefers-reduced-motion," the terminology differs between operating systems as to whether it means reduced motion or no motion. Unsolicited animation can be distracting or ill-making or both to some users. Since we can't know whether a particular animation is bothersome or not to a particular user, it is better to avoid animation altogether in such cases rather than try to determine whether a particular animation is safe for all.
If an animation is important, it would be best for prefers-reduced-motion users to be provided with a play/pause button and not be subjected to auto-play.
I understand the committee chose not to include brief animations in the standard because of a lack of definitive scientific findings, but it is a real problem and I believe you need to trust people with disabilities who report this as a problem that it is indeed a problem.
Please consider adding the following as a supplemental guidance:
Consider not serving any animation to users who have prefers-reduced-motion set to on. While the feature is called "prefers-reduced-motion," the terminology differs between operating systems as to whether it means reduced motion or no motion. Unsolicited animation can be distracting or ill-making or both to some users. Since we can't know whether a particular animation is bothersome or not to a particular user, it is better to avoid animation altogether in such cases rather than try to determine whether a particular animation is safe for all.
If an animation is important, it would be best for prefers-reduced-motion users to be provided with a play/pause button and not be subjected to auto-play.