The work for rewriting and reorganising the Handbook is in progress: @samikeijonen, @travel_girl and @rianrietveld are writing the first topics, @joedolson is reviewing them. We plan to write at least one topic per week. And the deadline for the first iteration of handbook is March 1, 2018. We enjoy the discussions on Slack: writing everything down makes us really think about what the best practices are.
SelectWoo
We send the SelectWoo demo pages to the testers for assistive technology testing and hope to get feedback this week. The testers will add their findings to the Github issue Review SelectWoo accessibility.
Codemirror for WP 4.9
Because the addition of Codemirror is planned for WP 4.9, we started the discussion with ticket #12423 again. On GitHub it’s available as a plugin, so we’ve opened an issue with our concerns of a code highlighter as default text editor. It’s not accessible for screen reader users. The plugin is also installed on our test server at wpaccess.org/codemirror/ for user testing if needed.
Gutenberg
We installed Gutenberg, from Git Master, on our test server and asked testers to test again, the first test we did was a few months ago and a lot has changed in the meantime. The results are collected and published by @karmatosed on GitHub, labeled feedback.
The next test should be a review of the output of all blocks on the frontend.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be at August 28, because too many people are on holiday the 21st.
On every Thursday we will informally discuss the handbook during the day.
WooCommerce makes use of Select2, and has forked Select2 to create a more accessible version. Select2 has not been updated since the beginning of the year, and none of the accessibility pull requests made by @afercia had been incorporated into the repository. Because of this, WooCommerce elected to fork the project so that they could make better progress. The new fork lives at WooCommerce/SelectWoo.
Select2 was of interest to the accessibility team a couple of years ago as a possible solution to some significant performance problems relating to multisite networks and sites with many users. However, the project had a lot of accessibility issues that made it non-viable for core usage.
@claudiulodro attended our meeting as a representative from WooCommerce. He’s been working on integrating accessibility in SelectWoo. He will set up a test page with sample usages of SelectWoo and prepare a list of known issues that he would like assistance with so that the accessibility team can effectively provide feedback. Feedback should be provided via comments on the Accessibility review thread, as GitHub doesn’t allow people to raise issues on a fork.
@claudiulodro will make a post about SelectWoo on the WooCommerce blog later this week.
If we determine that SelectWoo provides a viable mechanism to address issues in WordPress core, we will comment to that effect on pertinent tickets within Trac.
The documentation subgroup requested a native English speaker to review documents as they are completed, as the majority of the team are non-native speakers but writing in English. @joedolson agreed to do that.
Accessibility documentation that exists as specific guidelines for developers, such as the theme accessibility review documents, needs to stay where it is. In order to avoid duplication, the team handbook will link across to those documents when that content serves the purpose needed effectively.
Open Floor
@afercia encouraged anybody who’ll be in Europe in November to propose to talk at WordCamp Milano (Novermber 18-19).
Kickoff meeting for rewriting and reorganising the documentation on WordPress.org regarding web accessibility.
We want the documentation set up so that it’s complete, without duplicates, easy to find and put it on places where people actually will read it.
We will write in Google Docs (Sami opened a directory for this)
We can organise the topic later in a logical way before publishing them in the accessibility handbook
We report and discuss our work every Thursday in the #accessibility Slack channel
The goal is to write one topic a week per person
When the topics are added to the handbook, we will review the current documentation on wp.org to see where we can ask the teams to replace/add/modify text to prevent double info and to link to better information.
For the topics we want to keep a template, for example:
Topic
Short intro with:
Good Practice
Bad Practice
Why
Exceptions
Examples
Resources with links
We don’t want to copy all the info there already is on the web, but point to good info and examples.
If more people want to join in, you are most welcome.
@samikeijonen , @travel_girl and @rianrietveld will work together to look at the current documentation on WordPress.org about accessibility and see how they can improve and extend that.
Rian will setup meetings for this.
Test output Gutenberg in the frontend
@afercia set up a page on our test server with all blocks from Gutenberg version 0.5.0. We need to test if this code is valid and accessible, as this will end up on all WP websites eventually. There was a discussion about the usefulness of testing now, as G. is moving and changing so fast at the moment. Also G. 0.6 is already out: Andrea will set up a page for that too. Especially galleries and other complex HTML constructions are imported to test.
We should be more vigorous about blocking implementation chatter during bug scrubs and keep the discussion about solving the issue with the ticket itself. This way we have more time to also look at the Gutenberg issues on Github.
Open floor
@samikeijonen needs a sponsor to travel and stay at WordCamp US, we want him to work on a11y and themes
The discussion of the handbook was punted to the July 31st, 2017 meeting, as @samikeijonen was unable to attend this week’s meeting. As this discussion was originally intended as the primary focus of this week’s meeting, the entire meeting was open floor, with no agenda.
Topics discussed
Gutenberg: block output
@afercia recommended we set up a test to review the output of all Gutenberg content blocks, as many of the new block types generate different output than the equivalent in the existing editor, such as the image gallery block.
@rianrietveld requested that @afercia create a post for testing that contains all relevant options.
We determined that we need to first perform an expert review of the general issues, request modifications as necessary, then gather user feedback once any major errors have been worked through.
The team briefly discussed the reasoning behind creating content blocks that generate features that exist in the current WordPress ecosystem using different output HTML; further conversation on this topic should probably land in relevant Gutenberg issues.
Gutenberg: user testing
@nicbertino volunteered to manage moderated user testing for Gutenberg, to start with general user testing, then proceed to specific testing with users requiring assistive technology.
There has been some progress on minor issues.
Major issues still need to be addressed but those will require discussion and decisions.
One of the main issues reported in the first testing round is that there are too many tab stops.
Currently, navigation through all the interface works with tabs meaning ALL the controls are tabbable.
Considering how some of the Gutenberg UI parts are actually ARIA widgets, ideally, they should implement focus as recommended by the ARIA spec and the ARIA Authoring Practices. For example, toolbars and menus should be navigated with arrows only.
There’s definitely a need for more people to do testing and give feedback but we also need help with coding solutions.
The code can be confusing for those who are new to react. In light of this, it was proposed that we add an additional label to help React devs understand the expected outcome and make sure they know the end goal. Some possibilities are `[Type] A11y Task`, `needs React dev` or `has-a11y-feedback-needs-implementation`
To clarify the issue about too many tab stops, consider this example:
This is a Gutenberg “inline toolbar”. They change depending on the block.
All the controls in the toolbar are tabbable.
Instead, according to ARIA, if we want to treat this an ARIA toolbar, there should be just one tab stop on the toolbar and then all the controls should be navigated with arrows only.
That would greatly help to reduce the number of tab stops. The mixed tab/arrows navigation is a solid ARIA pattern borrowed by our operating systems.
1 Handbook
Sami Keijonen asked about the handbook: I actually really like the structure of theme handbook, can or should we use the same kind of format?
Also, the Breathe Theme is broken that we are using for https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility is broken:
On mobile Genericon is missing on “hamburger” menu.
Mobile menu doesn’t open at all.
We would like to do an a11y review on the theme for the theme handbook and fix the theme itself
2 Other a11y documentation in wp.org
We’ll start next week’s meeting with the handbook as well as other wp.org documentation.
We talked about five topics in our weekly meeting:
How to process test results for Gutenberg.
New Handbook topics.
Project managing a11y tickets in trac.
Windows High Contrast mode.
Open floor.
We tried Slack Threads for the first time. Each topic was in it’s own thread. It was mostly confusing and you can’t put images or code snippets in the thread. Good thing is that afterwards it’s easier (at least for me) to follow discussions.
It’s worth noting that Devon Persing and Scott Vinkle joined our meeting. They work in a team called Simply Accessible.
Here are short summaries about discussions.
How to process test results for Gutenberg
First Gutenberg test results are full of data. Andrea Fercia have filtered the report and I’ll post issues in Github. We also agreed to follow accessibility label in Github. We should know at least the titles of the accessibility issues. Unfortunately most of the team members doesn’t have enough time to contribute on Gutenberg.
It’s also important to create more specific tests with simple tasks like
keyboard navigation.
focus management.
navigating between different parts.
screen reader text issues.
New Handbook topics
We have started gathering topics to new accessibility handbook. The idea is to educate others by writing summaries of different topics and collect good resources of them. For now ideas are in Google Sheet, let me know if you have more topics in mind or want to help out in any other way.
Project managing a11y tickets in trac
Trac can be overwhelming even if looking info from Trac Handbook. Therefore Morten Rand-Hendriksen pulled data from CSV export into Google Sheet. We are exploring would that help
to get a quick overview of what’s happening.
see what tickets new contributors should focus on.
see who is involved and what the status is.
We are not sure yet how to make use of this and Morten will look into it more. For example could it be automated.
Windows High Contrast mode
High contrast mode benefit users with low vision or people working in dark environments. More information can be found in two places:
In this post we gathered testing results for the new text editor Gutenberg.
As the functionality is work in progress, we will use these test results to create issues and add to the discussion on GitHub.
If you wrote a blogpost about this or published test results in another way, please add this as comment to this post, or tweet it to WPAccessibility. Then we’ll add it to the list of blog posts with testdata.
In this post:
Results WPa11y test team
Blogposts with test data and research
Call to action
Results WPa11y test team July 6th 2017
Thanks to: Janki Moradiya, Riddhi Mehta, Shah Rishi, Geof Collis, Gabriela Nino de Rivera, Reagan Lynch, Shaun Everiss
We asked the accessibility test team to look at the plugin. Below are the reported a11y related experiences and issues:
General opinion:
Reagan: My first and initial impression, and yes I understand this is early testing, is that Gutenberg is a major change and major step backward in WP accessibility. I strongly encourage the WordPress development team to NOT put this as the default editor. If you want to force it then do so on wordpress.com, but give us a choice with the .org (self-hosted) version. Gutenberg as it currently stands will force me to consider other platforms. In fact, after giving up on the second blog post I opened a Ghost account for the first time ever and began learning how their system works. If Gutenberg becomes the default Ghost will be the more accessible platform. (Using Windows 10 with Firefox and JAWS for Windows.)
Geof: To put it mildly, I don’t like it, it is too complicated and busy. I found it easier to add an image and move it around with in the main body if necessary, using a screen reader there are too many actions to deal with, I hope they drop the idea. (Using IE 11.096, JAWS 11 with latest updates, Windows 7.)
Shaun: I think in general, as long as you never need to change styles, add lists of media or ever interact with the button panels, then you should be fine. So what if you have to? You just can’t [Editor: mild translation of the original text]. (Using Win7 Pro, NVDA, Firefox)
What is a better experience
Without assistive technology:
Block arrangement and easily adding blocks on the post
Embedded any video or clip is too easy.So, now add media it’s not tedious anymore
The main part is code option is we can add the shortcodes and other PHP code directly. It’s so cool
Display latest post via Widgets is too easy
Add all HTML element easily and mainly add and other tags which are very interesting.
Easily move blocks with the up-down errors is too useful
The look and feel of the visual editor are good and it is very easy to manage content and I think it’s time-saving for development.
What is worse
Without assistive technology:
Aligning blocks and makes clicking into content areas are problematic.
Having a whole section for Embeds of only tangential use seems clumsy.
When I publish the post there is not a “VIEW” button available for that post edit screen of Gutenberg.
If writing something in the text block and click on undo button it was removing the whole section instead of new word or sentence.
If I select any text from the content block then it’s selected the whole block for delete so, it’s considered my selection as deleting a block. For batter understanding, I have captured a video for the same.
With VoiceOver + Safari:
It was very difficult to navigate between blocks and options for formatting. If I have more than 2 blocks moving from one block to the other is a long way. I need to pass through each menu and button associated to the block. It is very tiring. Also, accessing options in the menus don’t respond well to VoiceOver commands. I was often redirected to other places in the page like “post settings” or “skip to main content” link.
The insert button it was not intuitive, it took me a while before finding how to insert a block image.
Insert link options buttons (enter, edit and erase) does not seem to have labels. VoiceOver announces them only like “button”.
When inserting a link, if I don’t type a URL address beginning with http://, Voiceover announces that the data is invalid. The insert link object keeps announcing “Enter a URL” like if any text were already typed. There is not a proper message to explain the user why the data is invalid or a placeholder (or something else) to show the expected input format.
What is impossible to do
Without assistive technology:
I think in current version changing the post format is impossible.
Not able to move “Separator” when blocks structure are typical. For better understanding, I have captured a video for the same.
There is always a placeholder “Write…” with text box it’s become confusing to add new block and it consumes one block space as well. For better understanding, I have captured a video for the same.
I have created a table and added data into it. Later I add the table in the same post the table will create with old table data automatically. If I delete the table from the post and later I add the table it will comes with the last data of the table.
With VoiceOver + Safari:
When editing text in a block, it is better to select an option in a menu before writing content. If text is already in the block, it is not possible to select it and then select an option in the menu to apply a format (like for example select a list, or bold or italic). I think it would be nice to have shortcuts for applying format without quitting the block. Something like selecting text and then using a shortcut for applying the desired format without having to navigate all the elements between the block and the menus.
Settings button does nothing when clicking on it.
With Windows 10 with Firefox and JAWS for Windows.
The post screen does not have a very intuitive layout. In visual mode the buttons to edit do not appear until after I begin to add content. I’m unclear on how or if I can change the level one heading for the title.
When I tab from the title field to what should be the content area I think I was adding a line of content. Upon pressing enter to start a new paragraph I was taken out of forms mode and completely lost on the page for a few minutes. I should not be taken out of forms mode in a content body text area type field.
I changed to the text mode, and while typing content was easier when I attempted to select text to make a link I saw no field to add a link like is currently present with the editor in 4.8.
At one point when I selected text to make a link and then pressed enter on the link button in text mode text I had entered disappeared. From reviews I’ve read it seems there are buttons that appear when I first enter a “block”, but using a screen reader I don’t know what those are.
I like to write blog posts and page content outside of WordPress using an editor like Jarte. When I copied text out of Jarte in this test and went to paste it the experience was terrible. I cannot paste without losing all formatting. I also don’t understand “blocks”. Using TinyMCE I feel like I’m in a very accessible environment. With Gutenberg I want to stop blogging.
ON the Gutenberg page it says, “The goal of the block editor is to make adding rich content to WordPress simple and enjoyable.” Well I hate to say it, but as a power user of WordPress it makes adding rich content more complex for me.
I wrote two blog posts, or tried. With the first I used my normal copy editing process and had the post done and ready to go within an hour. WithGutenberg I was still trying to format the text correctly two hours later and had missing content that just disappeared. I gave up in frustration over the process
What don’t you understand
Without assistive technology:
I did not understand the work or use of the first button in post settings panel.
I found that in text editor all top buttons/tags are not working properly and when I click on them or out site the text editor “” and “” added automatically and it looks very confusing for me.
I did not find how to add the new row or new column in table format.
Blogposts with test data and research
If you wrote a blogpost about this or published test results in another way, please add this as comment to this post, or tweet it to WPAccessibility.
Are you an accessibility expert? We need your help!
At the moment work is done to improve the WordPress content editor. This project is called Gutenberg. The goal is to improve the interface and make it ready for the future. The new editor is now available as plugin and the work is done on Github.
The accessibility team needs help to safeguard it’s accessibility and we can’t do this alone.
If you are a developer, accessibility tester or work for company that specialises in web accessibility, please help testing or join the work and discussions on Github. WordPress is used by +27% of all websites, so this will have a huge impact on the way people (can) publish on the web worldwide. And we need all the help we can get at the moment.
