[wp-hackers] Is WP back end supposed to work without JavaScript?

[Jennifer Hodgdon]

Well, I would agree with you on all counts. The WP back end is clearly 
in violation of the WCAG... But what should we do about it?

The first thing to do would probably be WP Powers that Be to commit to 
making WP's back end WCAG compatible, or at least to agree that if it 
isn't, it's a serious bug. The next step would be to identify the 
actual WCAG violations, which would probably require an expert on 
accessibility (rather than someone like me making guesses) doing an 
assessment.

Then of course, to fix the issues, which we can all participate in and 
is probably doable. For instance, the separate "Media" page allows you 
to upload a file and edit the caption, etc., all without use of 
JavaScript (it's klunky and you cannot attach it to a post, but as a 
proof of concept, it's there).

     --Jennifer

Austin Matzko wrote:
> I would say if WordPress requires JavaScript to accomplish a certain
> task, then it's a bug.
> 
> * The WP requirements page says nothing about having a
> JavaScript-enabled client [1].
> * From the first paragraph, the WP features page trumpets its W3C
> standards-compliance [2].  By failing to gracefully degrade in older
> clients, WP violates the W3C "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines"
> [3].
> * WP hurts its potential market share by excluding those who must
> follow accessibility guidelines for their site.
> 
> [1] http://wordpress.org/about/requirements/
> [2] http://wordpress.org/about/features/
> [3] http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/#gl-new-technologies


-- 
Jennifer Hodgdon * Poplar ProductivityWare
www.poplarware.com
Drupal, WordPress, and custom Web programming