Accessibility Team Meeting Notes: February 4, 2022

These are the notes for the Make WordPress 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 meeting, that occurred Friday, February 4, 17:00 UTC. You can read the entire meeting transcript on our SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel and view the Meeting Agenda here. The meeting begins on time at the conclusion of the bug scrub, a welcome to new attendees with introductions, and rules for a family-friendly meeting.

Updates from working groups

1. Report from General Team — Since it is right after a major releaseMajor Release A set of releases or versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as “X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases often are the introduction of new major features and functionality., they’ve been focusing on issues milestoned for the next minor releaseMinor Release A set of releases or versions having the same minor version number may be collectively referred to as .x , for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.3, and all other versions in the 5.2 (five dot two) branch of that software. Minor Releases often make improvements to existing features and functionality.. And they’re checking issues in the awaiting review queue, to avoid things piling up. There’s no set timeline for the 6.0 release yet, so, if possible, we’ll try to dedicate more time during bug-scrubs to 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.
2. Report from Gutenberg Team — @alexstine brought Ticket #37934 Fix useFocusFirstElement in non-contenteditable Blocks up for discussion, stating that this item could use a lot of testing. The code used was great for older Blocks but not as good fro the newer ones. Suggestion by @joedolson is to try to replicate the scenario described in the "How has this been tested?" section. Questions like, "is there a list of blocks this issue applies to?" assuming it not only applies to columns but also groups, etc. Groups will be harder (to test) because there is nothing currently in a Group BlockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. right now that will receive focus because they are all child Blocks. This will be improved in future pull requests, making sure every Block has at least one focussable element. There should be some improvement with the Columns Block. Finally, this does work despite the failing tests meaning @alexstine will need to track down some dedicated help to debug.
3. Report from Media Team — Most of the goals for media are set. There are a handful of accessibility issues to tackle. Time permitting, Joe will add some other things, but if the admin image editor redesign is going to have any feasibility, he can’t add much more.
4. Report from Meta Team — Although there was a member present to report, the big change is the new headerHeader The header of your site is typically the first thing people will experience. The masthead or header art located across the top of your page is part of the look and feel of your website. It can influence a visitor’s opinion about your content and you/ your organization’s brand. It may also look different on different screen sizes. across .org. It could probably stand a review, if anybody has time. There is one bug that needs to be reported, but could use further investigation.

Open Floor

Our weekly meeting closed with these comments:

• Destiny asked how the Learn session prep going and volutneered to assist if needed; and
• To catch up on team news, goals, and more articipants were pointed here to get meeting recaps, agendas, and upcoming meeting information.