Accessibillty Team Update:March 6, 2013

Custom Menus

Real, positive, progress on this via #14045 thanks kargely to @lessbloat and @ceo. Remaining concerns are centred on supporting text for non-sighted users that avoids purely visual/spatial terminology.

CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Comment Form

Currently looking at #15080 with a viw to ensuring that:

  1. users of software that does not support HTML5 are not dis-advantaged.
  2. the mixture of form controls and plain text in the current core output is removed so that screen reader users no longer have to make 2 “passes” to extract all of the form information.

2013 CSUN Conference

The group was represented by @accessiblejoe and @joedolson who reported phenomenal support for 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) — see #csun13.

Theme Accessibility Audit

Now moving onto the next phase — working with the Theme Review Team to update the Theme Review Guidelines and devise a practical workflow for an optional accessibility review.

Documentation

The first draft of the accessibility section for the Theme Developers Handbook is almost complete. Next step — gathering feedback from the Theme Review Team.

Concerns

Manpower, remains the largest concern. We badly need:

  • more, experienced, developers to assist with the upcoming theme accessibility audits
  • a greater range of non-technical, disabled users who are willing to undertake occasional user tests & provide feedback. At the present time, we are still heavily skewed towards visually-impaired users which presents a significant danger when trying to develop balanced solutions for all potential users.

#accessibility