Gutenberg 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/: Support Navigation and Edit Mode
For reference, see the related pull request on Gutenberg GitHub repository.
The idea is to use tabs
key to provide a way to navigate between blocks with the keyboard (navigation mode). Hitting enter
switch to edit mode (you can edit the block 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. you navigated to). Hitting escape
switch back to navigation mode.
All meeting attendees agree that this is a good improvement. It would be necessary to be extensively tested by as many persons as possible, including users of assistive technologies.
The next Gutenberg Plugin 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 release is planned for August 12th. The Accessibility 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 will publish a call for testers with some testing scenarios to test this big improvement.
Improving the Accessibility Team feedback on Gutenberg issues and pull requests
There is a need to follow Gutenberg development on both GitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ and Slack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. (in core Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.-editor channel), and @afercia is currently spending a lot of time to follow it’s development, sending issues and reviewing pull requests.
As @afercia said: As of today there are 37 Gutenberg issues and pull requests with the “Needs Accessibility Feedback” label. The Accessibility Team need more persons able to follow that closely.
@nataliemac volunteered to help monitoring the “Needs Accessibility Feedback” label on Gutenberg GitHub Repository.
The Accessibility Team will discuss the possibility to find ways to have sponsored contributors (even a couple hours a week would be a great sponsorship!) during the next weekly meeting.
WP Accessibility Day – organizing team & next steps
Reminder: it was previously decided to evaluate the possibility to organize a dedicated WordPress global accessibility event, like polyglots do with WordPress Translation Day (WPTD).
The idea is to organize a 24-hour virtual event all around the world with some video conferences and focused on contributing to WordPress accessibility.
A couple of weeks ago, a spreadsheet was shared so Accessibility team contributors could sign up to be involved in this organizing team.
A dozen people signed up to the organizing team: @audrasjb, @joedolson, @nataliemac, @SergeyBiryukov, @bamadesigner, @gianwild, @bdeconinck, @jaymanpandya, @kevinbazira, @robin2go, @foucciano and @ryokuhi 🎉🎉🎉
The next step is to discuss the main focuses of the event and to divide the roles between the organizing team.
Feedback on Theme Review Team’s post about supporting keyboard navigation
For reference, see the related post drafted by @poena.
@audrasjb raised a missing item: focus order that should match visual order.
If a Web page can be navigated sequentially and the navigation sequences affect meaning or operation, focusable components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability. (Level A)
Source: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
@nataliemac added the post should include a warning about not relying on overuse of tabindex
to accomplish this.
@afercia raised another item: there is a need to clarify that the native browsers outline
can be removed but only if an alternative, like an accessible focus style, is provided.
@anevins: Theme authors should also be encouraged to use the Accessibility support forum if they get stuck.
Openfloor
During the next weekly meeting, the Accessibility Team will assign owners for the 53 tickets in the 5.3 milestone.
#5-3, #gutenberg, #wordpress-accessibility-day