1291674 - The page is auto-scrolled to the narrated paragraph while scrolling through the article

Status: NEW

(Toolkit :: Reader Mode, defect, P3)

Description

[Mihai Boldan, Desktop QA [:mboldan]]

[Affected versions]:
- Firefox 51.0a1 (2016-08-02), Firefox 50.0a2 (2016-08-03), Firefox 49.0b9, Firefox 48.0 RC

[Affected platforms]:
- Mac OS X 10.9.5, Ubuntu 16.04 x86, Windows 7 x64

[Steps to reproduce]:
1. Start Firefox.
2. Make sure that media.webspeech.synth.enabled pref is true.
3. Open an eligible page in Reader Mode (Eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla). 
4. In the left toolbar, check the third icon from the top - the Narrate icon and click on the Play button.
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

[Expected result]:
- The speaker does not stop and the currently part of the page is displayed.

[Actual result]:
- The speaker does not stop, but when the paragraph is changed, the page is auto-scrolled to the read paragraph. 

[Regression range]:
- This is not a regression since the issue is reproducible on Firefox 48.0a1 (2016-03-08).

Comment 1

[:Gijs (he/him)]

Eitan, is there a sane way for us to work around this? Maybe turn off the autoscrolling when the user scrolls manually or something?

Comment 2

[Eitan Isaacson [:eeejay]]

I think this is a usability question.

If the user idly scrolls a bit it should not completely stop the auto scrolling. I think having auto scrolling off is a very confusing state as the text that is being read is buried somewhere in the overflow and the user has no way to recover from it (stopping and staring again will read from the first visible paragraph).

Maybe having an overlay with an arrow on the bottom or top of the page that points to where the spoken paragraph is?

Don't know this seems hard.. Markus?

Comment 3

[Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me)]

Yeah, we should turn off autoscroll if we detect that the user manually has scrolled the page. We can place a toolbar at the bottom or top of the page (we should just pick one, it doesn't need to move relative to the reading position) and clicking on the toolbar will scroll the paragraph being read into view.

Comment 4

[Markus Jaritz [:designakt] (UX)]

Attachment: back_to_reading_position_variants.gif

Disabling auto-scroll and offering a ways to get back to the reading position (and enable auto-scroll) seams like a good solution to that problem.

The questions I find difficult to answer are:

When to disable auto-scroll?
 - on slightest scroll movement by the user
 - or if reading-position is being scrolled out of the visible area.
(my guess would be option 2)
and probably no auto-re-enabling if scrolled into view again.

Where to place the indicator that leads back to the reading position?
 - top
 - bottom
 - dependent on where the reading position is
 - off to the side
(my feeling is that having it as a block in front of the text might make it the most obvious without distracting too much. - and if clicked the user can expect the currently read text to appear right next to that position)

Would it make sense to indicate where the reading position is in relation to the current position?
It would help people understand if they look at something that has been read, or something that will be read. (but might be a minor help)

And what should the label say:
 - back to reading position
 - back to narration

Attached are some mocks I created to get a feeling for it. (gif looping through different placements.)

Comment 5

[Eitan Isaacson [:eeejay]]

Yup! The version with the 100% width in the top and bottom is what I had in mind, and it looks good.