[wp-ui] Accessibility query

Rich Pedley elfin at elfden.co.uk
Wed Sep 8 09:43:00 UTC 2010


(cc'ed to 2 lists, please be careful when replying)

As some of you may know I've suggested some accessibility enhancements 
for the Twenty Ten theme.
encompassing trac ticket: #14782

But that side(ie mainly CSS changes) is virtually complete, aside from 
correcting/adapting things to fit in a little more smoothly.

Next on the list would be for me to look at forms.

However I think I need to check on how far this will go before effort 
is put in, as the changes would be vast.

A lot of the forms are split into boxes, so I'll concentrate on that 
for the moment. Each box is, generally, a collection of inputs within 
an all encompassing form. Ideally these should be in fieldset's, with 
accompanying legend's.

Additionally, text inside a form, not in labels or fieldsets, isn't 
readable by 'all' screen readers when in _forms mode_.
http://www.pws-ltd.com/sections/articles/2008/accessible_forms.html
JAWS 10 may be addressing this issue, but it will be a long time 
before that is widely used, and it should not be the only screen 
reader considered to be in use.

However correlating the necessary changes would involve a great deal 
of work and time. Actually making the changes would involve more work, 
and more time.

So I suppose the crux is, is accessibility a high priority? If it 
isn't I doubt that the core team can spare the man hours and any work 
that I might do is likely to become obsolete very quickly if not 
implemented sooner rather than later.

I'm more than happy to put in the time and effort but would feel more 
comfortable knowing that we are on the same page when it comes to 
accessibility. If not then I can put that effort elsewhere within 
WordPress.

Rich


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