IRC Meeting: April 24, 2013

We had another lively IRC meeting on Wednesday.

3.6 Post Formats

It was previously decided that both the video and audio post formats could benefit from an ability to add links to captions (for videos) or transcripts (for audio files) and some preliminary investigations were started to look at the possibility of submitting patches. However, as there has been some concern about the release schedule for 3.6 and the possibility that Post Formats might be removed from the release, this has been shelved until we hear further.

MP6 PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party

Attention has now turned to the MP6 plugin and the possible new user interface for WordPress 3.7. Members of the group are now looking for possible accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) issues via MP6 with a view to helping to remove any problems in 3.7’s interface before they become too deeply embedded.

GlotPress

We’ve been asked to provide feedback on the front end of the GlotPress site and to highlight any areas where accessibility could be improved. The final details for this project — including support for non-technical disabled users who would like to get involved — will be drawn up over the next few weeks.

Theme Accessibility Auditing

We are almost ready to begin some practical testing of the Theme Accessibility Audit. First, both @esmi and @joedolson need to undertake some standard theme reviews so that they can become familiar with the existing theme review process. Once this is complete, we will be looking for some themes to run through the accessibility audit. If you are a theme developer and will shortly be submitting a new, or updated, theme for review, please contact us if you are willing to submit your theme for an optional accessibility audit.

Videos

We are still looking to develop a series of videos demonstrating disabled volunteers navigating around WordPress sites. @accessiblejoe has already recorded a 50 minute screen sharing session with a user of Dragon Naturally Speaking navigating around his own wordpress.comWordPress.com An online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/ site. Over the next month, this will hopefully be broken down into smaller segments with captions and made available via wordpress.tv.

If you have some experience in recording disabled user testing videos and would like to help us extend the library of videos, please contact us. The more videos we have available, the more we are likely to help all WordPress developers understand the issues faced by disabled users every day.

Extending Pan-Accessibility

It was generally agreed that much of the previous accessibility work within WordPress has focused on visually-impaired screen readers users and that accessibility improvements (and feedback) need to adopt a more pan-disability approach.

Whilst we continue to be very grateful for the invaluable work and feedback provided by some of our screen reader users, we would very much like to encourage users of other forms of assistive technologyAssistive technology Assistive technology is an umbrella term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and also includes the process used in selecting, locating, and using them. Assistive technology promotes greater independence by enabling people to perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish, or had great difficulty accomplishing, by providing enhancements to, or changing methods of interacting with, the technology needed to accomplish such tasks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assistive_technology to become involved. Examples might include switch users, voice recognition users and dyslexics who do not rely on screen reader software.

f you are in one of these groups and would like to help, please join us. We’re quite a friendly bunch and you do not need to have any technical skills beyond an ability to use WordPress and your own assistive software.

#wordpress-ui log for April 24, 2013.

#irc, #meetup