IRC Meeting: February 27 2013

As usual, we had a lively meeting. Thanks to all who attended.

Custom Menus

The 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) of custom menus in WordPress 3.6 and its related Trac ticket continued to be the main topic of conversation. This is undoubtedly going to be a very difficult area to get just right — not only in terms of the coding approach but also due to the problems of ensuring that screen reader users are presented with a meaningful construct when they try to manipulate menu items. Because of this, it was felt that there was a real danger of theoretical discussions taking priority over the development of prototypes. To try and avoid this, @GrahamArmfield and @lessbloat have agreed to take the lead together on developing prototype solutions.

Add Media Panel

@GrahamArmfield recently raised some concerns over accessibility issues within the current Add Media Panel and we decided to progress further with this. @ceo agreed to post a summation of the issues faced by some screen reader users shortly. Some possible new options were suggested such as an ability to tag images and filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. the library by tag or an option to filter the library by upload date. Both may offer some benefits to users trying to locate a specific file in a large library when they are unable to “see” the images in question.

Join Us

Finally, a reminder that we are still a relatively small group of active members (although we have 156 people subscribed to this blog by email). We do need more active members – both technical and non-technical. So do please consider joining the group.

#wordpress-ui log for February 27, 2013

#irc, #meetup, #menus, #twentythirteen

IRC Meeting Summary: 20 Feb. 2013

As evidenced by our small group at yesterday’s meetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area., I want to first remind you all that we could very much use new members! Whether you are a developer and very technical or merely a writer with special needs, we would certainly welcome you to join us. Anyway, despite our numbers and lack of a formal agenda, our main discussion was on two topics that will be our primary focus presently.

Custom Menus

As the trac ticket concerning design changes to the Custom Menu has been closed, we discussed centering 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) discussion around the reopened trac ticket #14045. The proposal is for an accessibility mode screen alternative like that which the Widgets page utilizes. We also have a post devoted to this topic here as well for your consideration and comments.

Twenty Thirteen

Feedback is strongly requested from an accessibility standpoint on the new default theme Twenty Thirteen, which is currently being developed. You can check out the theme here at the Twenty Thirteen demo site and please report any feedback you have.

The full log of yesterday’s IRC meeting can be found here at #wordpress-ui logs for February 20, 2013.

#core-2, #irc, #meetup, #menus, #theme, #twentythirteen

Twenty Thirteen

Development on the next default theme — Twenty Thirteen — has now reached a point where our feedback is needed. You can see and use the theme (currently still in alpha) at its own Twenty Thirteen demo site.

Please post all feedback here. If you are using 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 browse the demo site, please indicate exactly what software you are using — including the version number, if possible.

Come on, people. If you want a truly beautiful example of an accessible WordPress default theme, now is the time to point out any issues and support the theme’s developers.

#a11y-audit, #core-2, #theme, #twentythirteen

Aaron Jorbin is suggesting that the new Twenty…

Aaron Jorbin is suggesting that the new Twenty Thirteen should be designed and built “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) first”. He outlines exactly what he means by this in What I want to see in the Twenty Thirteen theme. I think this is an initiative we should all support 100%.

#theme, #twentythirteen