A portfolio carousel can hide the very project a buyer wants to inspect. Decide whether a carousel adds value over a static grid, then commission navigation, pause and focus behaviour as explicit deliverables. Attractive transitions cannot substitute for finding every item.
Primary evidence and claim boundaries
W3C WAI calls for keyboard operation, understandable focus, communicated item changes and user control of movement in accessible carousels. Primary reference · Read 17 October 2026.
Filled acceptance example
Synthetic teaching scenario, not a client case, provider integration test or business result. Scroll the example table on narrow screens.
| Synthetic gallery state | Reader action | Expected result |
|---|---|---|
| 4 projects; project 1 shown; auto-advance enabled | Activate Pause | No timed advance while paused |
| Paused on project 1 | Keyboard Next | Project 2 shown; focus remains predictable |
| Project 4 shown | Activate declared non-looping Next | Stay 4; end state communicated |
| Motion unavailable or script failed | Use plain project links | All 4 destinations still reachable |
Practical handover procedure
- Inventory project destinations and choose looping or bounded navigation deliberately. Keep important links available outside automatic rotation.
- Agree pause/resume, keyboard controls, item names and announcement behaviour. Reconcile this with reduced-motion preferences without assuming reduced motion alone solves discovery.
- Test reaching each destination, pausing for extended reading and moving backwards. Verify hidden-slide controls are not unexpectedly focusable and record mobile behaviour.
Interpret the outcome
The four-item contract exposes several separate outputs: current item, rotation state, focus and destination reachability. A pause icon that changes appearance but does not stop the timer fails. If equivalent navigation costs more than the carousel benefits, a static project list is a legitimate design decision.
Acceptance decision
Every project must be reachable and identifiable without waiting for rotation, and user pause must persist according to the agreed behaviour. Save an observed journey, not just a still image.
Limits and unverified work
Synthetic gallery and proposed behaviour, not a test of MadRaven’s frozen homepage. No existing animation or page was changed. Screen-reader/browser support still needs implementation testing.
Download the filled bilingual acceptance record — Contains these inputs, steps, expectations and limits. This is a teaching record, not an executable integration.