Accessibility Team Meeting Notes for 7 June 2019

Meeting transcript on Slack

Team Goal progress

Media tickets: moving forward, could use some prioritization work to help with focus. More about order than importance. Ordering will be set in the tracking spreadsheet. In general, tackling major tickets like #47141 should probably happen first, as those should get plenty of time in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. to identify any problems from the patching. @afercia committing patch for #47141 today. [Publication Note: committed in https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/45499.]

GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ issues: no update today.

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) Team at WCEU

Want to try and integrate some testing with 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 into the Gutenberg testing plans for WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. EU. @joedolson will publish a notice to announce that; @audrasjb and @afercia will take care of helping coordinate tests.

Gutenberg Keyboard Shortcuts

@karmatosed posed questions concerning how to optimize current keyboard shortcuts, plan a pattern to ensure future optimization, and how to make shortcuts visible to users.

@joedolson Noted that the fundamental idea of creating ideal keyboard shortcuts is flawed because of the complexity of conflicts and patterns for existing shortcuts in other applications. Creating customizable keyboard shortcuts that allow users to optimize shortcuts for their own use is the ideal. This doesn’t prevent us from choosing sensible defaults, but sensible and optimal are not the same.

Agreed that what we need to do is explore mechanisms to create a keyboard customization UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing.. This UI would also help as a mechanism to communicate shortcuts.

Gutenberg Open Floor

@joedolson updated group on progress from last week’s discussion of the flawed sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. UI in Gutenberg. @nrqsnchz, @sarahmonster, @mapk, and @kjellr have been brainstorming ideas and concepts that provide a design that can display the controls effectively without depending on a sidebar that is located remotely in the DOM.

@afercia commented on recent PRs and proposals that are doing a good job of moving controls out of the sidebar.

Gutenberg open floor review

Original proposal suggested trying open floors for a month to integrate team meetings. Assessing effectiveness.

General feeling is that communication is improving, but question posed whether resolutions to the larger Gutenberg issues as raised in the WP Campus audit are happening.

Group agreed that more time is required to assess this. Will reassess in a month, and consider at that time whether to continue practice for a month or try an alternate approach. Alternate approaches from anybody who wants to make a change should be made available in writing at the meeting.