Accessibility Team Update: June 18, 2014

Visual Focus In Left Navigation

Screenshot of admin left navigation showing Posts menu selected with New Post submenu selected

Posts menu selected with indistinguishable darker black shading, Add New sub menu item selected with text in dark blue. Note that dark blue text against dark gray is hard to see.

Color Alone

Visual focus indicators for wayfinding are relied on heavily by some keyboard-only users. @helen notes the enhanced visual focus indicators now in trunk. Ticket #28267 needs a lot more work bringing the focus style to various places but one area that needs a smart solution is left navigation. Now we are relying on color changes which are, in some instances, too subtle. Indeed, color is not to be used as the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element.

Suggestions

We discussed this for most of the meeting and here are some suggestions.

  • Helen reports that a blue glow does not look good
  • White outline around menu item with white outline also around selected submenu item
  • Reversing the colors with another undefined indicator element
  • Triangle to the left of main menu item and selected submenu item
  • Underline under main menu item and selected submenu item (might be mistaken for links)

Solution Needed

We need some suggestions for an elegant solution. Bear in mind that there are eight admin color schemes and any solution should take that into account. I have created ticket #28599 to work on this issue. A 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 shirt to the person who comes up with the adopted solution!