Stefano Minoia 3:00 pm on September 9, 2020  

Gutenberg-focused weekly meeting: call for issues

During the last 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 weekly meeting, it was decided that the meeting happening on Friday, September 11, 2020 at 15:00 UTC will be entirely dedicated to discussing GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ issues.

If you want to suggest an issue or a pull request, you are invited to write it in the comments to this post before Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 21:00 UTC.

The Agenda will be published soon after and will include the issues that will be discussed during the meeting. If we won’t be able to fit all items in the agenda, we’ll consider organizing another specific meeting.

The meeting will be held, as always, in the #accessibility channel in the Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. (requires registration).

Enrique Sánchez 6:35 pm on September 4, 2020
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Accessibility Team Meeting Notes: September 4, 2020

These are the weekly notes for 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) Team meeting that happens on Fridays. You can read the full transcript on our Slack channel and find the meeting’s agenda here.

Organization of an extra meeting to discuss specific GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ issues

The team discussed adding an additional one-off meeting to address specific Gutenberg features for the WP 5.6 release that require special attention.

Given that there was no consensus on a date and time for this meeting, we will be using our regular meeting time next week to discuss and address these issues.

During the discussion, it was also proposed for the Accessibility and Design teams to hold office hours once a week. As suggested by @sarahricker:

It is intended a place for general feedback re: Gutenissues and to get a few eyes on big issues so they can be brought to light quicker. And to help anyone who needs help with a11yAccessibility 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) concepts.

The team thought this to be a great idea and are looking forward to hear more and participate. Be on the lookout for more information coming soon from @sarahricker and @karmatosed.

Adding a screen reader announcement to the last blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. in a list

We finished discussing this Gutenberg issue that proposes to add a screen reader announcement to last block in the block list by @alexstine.

The team agreed this is a good idea and should be tried and tested in a PR.

Adding a sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. for navigating template, posts, and pages inside the block editor

We discussed this Gutenberg issue that explores a new sidebar UI for navigating between templates, posts, and pages without leaving the editor.

A concern around having too many sidebars (and sidebars in general) and how this new one being explored looks different was raised, and an argument in favor of hierarchy and information architecture was also brought up.

The feedback will be added to the issue.

The image block’s editing tools break the toolbar keyboard accessibility

We also looked at this issue that reports that the image block editing tools are triggering a focus loss, thus affecting keyboard accessibility of the toolbar.

We discussed alternatives worth exploring and will leave feedback in the issue.

#meeting-notes

Stefano Minoia 5:00 pm on September 3, 2020
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Accessibility Team Meeting Agenda: September 4, 2020

This is the proposed agenda for the weekly 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 meeting on Friday, September 4, 2020 at 15:00 UTC.

If you want to have a topic added to the agenda, please mention it in the comments of this post.

The Accessibility Team bug scrub will be held on Friday, September 4, 2020, at 14:00 UTC.

This meeting is held in the #accessibility channel in the Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. (requires registration).

#agenda

Enrique Sánchez 9:24 pm on August 28, 2020
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Accessibility Team Meeting Notes: August 28, 2020

These are the weekly notes for 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) Team meeting that happens on Fridays. You can read the full transcript on our Slack channel and find the meeting’s agenda here.

WordPress 5.5 release post-mortem

The team shared and discussed what we thought went well and went wrong with our team’s projects and tasks during the release of WordPress 5.5.

The issue of not enough early involvement and feedback during design and development updates to the blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. editor was brought up a few times and discussed at length. We all agreed that the process needs to be improved and our team is still very limited in terms of time and resources.

We agreed to explore solutions and ideas that would help us improve this cycle and follow-up in a separate document or post. @sarahricker volunteered to put all of this feedback together.

Team goals and priorities for WordPress 5.6

We reviewed the suggested projects and priorities that were added to the call posted earlier this week. After some discussion and a show of hands, the following projects gathered enough interest and participation:

  1. Updating the WordPress Accessibility coding standards from WCAGWCAG WCAG is an acronym for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are helping make sure the internet is accessible to all people no matter how they would need to access the internet (screen-reader, keyboard only, etc) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/. 2.0 to WCAG 2.1 and document accessibility anti-patterns
  2. Accessibility of the WordPress 2021 default theme
  3. A feature pluginFeature Plugin A plugin that was created with the intention of eventually being proposed for inclusion in WordPress Core. See Features as Plugins. to create an “Accessibility Statement” tool with features equivalent to Privacy Policy Tools

All other items on the agenda that couldn’t be covered will be added to next week’s meeting agenda.

#meeting-notes

Enrique Sánchez 5:11 pm on August 27, 2020
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Accessibility Team Meeting Agenda: August 28, 2020

This is the proposed agenda for the weekly 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 meeting on Friday, August 28, at 15:00 UTC.

If you want to have a topic added to the agenda, please mention it in the comments of this post or pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” the team in the #accessibility SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel.

The Accessibility Team bug scrub will be held on Friday, August 28, at 14:00 UTC.

This meeting is held in the #accessibility channel in the Making WordPress Slack (requires registration).

#agenda

Joe Dolson 7:08 pm on August 26, 2020  

Lend a Hand: Volunteers Needed for WP Accessibility Day

We have an upcoming event – do you want to contribute to the WordPress Community and its initiatives and 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)?

We need your help

We’re hosting the first-annual WordPress Accessibility Day October 2-3, 2020, a 24-hour event highlighting accessibility topics and making the online experience more inclusive for all. 

To make the event run smoothly around the world, we could use volunteers in the following roles:

  • Hosts;
  • Moderators; and 
  • Monitors

Reasons why you should volunteer

We’d love to have you as part of our team and here’s why:

  • WP Accessibility Day will bring together the best and brightest voices and you’ll be contributing to the WordPress Community and the event’s success;
  • You’ll have the opportunity to meet and interact with members of the Community and give back to an incredibly important initiative;
  • Help others become aware of why being creating more inclusive WordPress websites; and
  • Be on the ground floor of this first-ever accessibility event that impacts and shapes accessibility initiatives within the WordPress Community moving forward

 Sign up today and get more information about volunteer roles at the WP Accessibility Day volunteering page!

Stefano Minoia 3:00 pm on August 25, 2020
Tags: 5.6,   

Accessibility Team’s goals for WordPress 5.6 and beyond

Following a pattern established during the last WordPress releases, it has become common for the 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 to set targets for each release during the final stages of the previous one.

Given the heavy involvement of the Team between 5.5 RCRelease Candidate A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. 1 and the 5.5 release, it was impossible to discuss possible goals before. Also, given that the kickoff meeting for WordPress 5.6 took place on Wednesday, 19th August, this discussion can’t be delayed anymore.

As such, the Accessibility Team is going to discuss possible targets for WordPress 5.6 during the next weekly meeting, which will take place on Friday, 28th August, 2020 at 15:00 UTC.

If you have an accessibility goal you would like to see the team pursue on WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress., you are more than invited to add it in the comment section below and let us know. You are then invited to attend to the next weekly meeting, when possible goals will be discussed and prioritized.

If a certain goal won’t be selected for the 5.6 release, it can always be included in the list that will be created for the 5.7 release.

While a strict timeline can’t be set too many months in advance, the next Call for Accessibility Team’s goals will likely be published around Friday, 13th November, 2020, that is, the Friday before WordPress 5.6 RC 1. Possible goals will then be discussed during the weekly meeting on Friday, 20th November, 2020. Around the same time, an extra bug-scrub to identify possible good-first-bug Core tickets and GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ issues will take place.

All the above dates are flexible and can be changed according to specific needs, in particular in case they run the risk of detract from bug fixing during Release CandidateRelease Candidate A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge..

Such an early planning will probably become even more useful with next releases, given that four major WordPress releases are already planned for 2021 and each release cycle will be shorter. Planning in advance possible goals during Release Candidate will also allow contributors to have a break in between releases, reducing possible sources of burnout.

#5-6, #goals

Stefano Minoia 11:00 am on August 25, 2020
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Accessibility Team Meeting Notes: August 21, 2020

These are the weekly notes for 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) Team meeting that happens on Fridays. You can read the full transcript on our Slack channel and find the meeting’s agenda here.

Vote to change the day and time of the team’s weekly meeting

Following a first round of voting to change the day and time of the team’s weekly meeting and the tie between moving the meeting to Tuesday, and keeping it on Friday, the team decided to hold a second poll to break the tie. The vote was closed at 17:30 UTC during the meeting and the results were:

  • Tuesday, 15:00 UTC: 42.9% of votes;
  • Friday, 15:00 UTC: 57.1% of votes.

As such, the team’s choice is to keep the meeting on the current day and time. A review of such decision can take place again in the future, but possibily not before six months.

Call for Team’s goals for the 5.6 release

You can find more details about this point in a self-contained post to be published soon on the Make website.

Request for collaboration on GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ and Full Site Editing

@annezazu reached out to the channel asking for collaboration from the Accessibility Team on two projects.

  • The Gutenberg Team is looking for more help with triage; documentation on triaging Gutenberg is available on GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ and requests for joining the triage team can be done in the #core-editor channel on SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/..
  • The Full Site Editing outreach experiment is looking for accessibility focused representation before this initiative starts. More information can be found in the kickoff post about Full Site Editing outreach experiment on the Make website and people interested in participating can join the #fse-outreach-experiment channel on Slack.

Discussion about adding user-editable aria-labels to links in Gutenberg

The Team discussed an issue in the Gutenberg repository allowing users to add aria-labels to links. After a short discussion, the Team agreed that, while having multiple links and buttons with the same text can be harmful for users, using an aria-label attribute is almost surely not the best solution. @alexstine volunteered to sum up the Team’s position and to add a comment to the issue about aria-labels before closing it.

Discussion about communicating expanded/collapsed state in Gutenberg

Next, the team discussed another Gutenberg issue about the expanded/collapsed state of the “More options” button not being communicated to screen readers. Given that the bug was reported after testing on an iPod touch and while the team recognized that the screen reader expanded/collapsed state is not communicated in iOSiOS The operating system used on iPhones and iPads., after a short discussion the team decided to ask for more information to the reporter, given that the actual implementation works as expected. @nrqsnchz volunteered to write a comment on the issue about expanded/collapsed state.

Discussion about adding a screen reader announcement to the last Gutenberg blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. in a list

Finally, the issue with the proposal to add an announcement for screen readers when a user reaches the last Gutenberg block in a list was introduced. Given the little time left for discussion, but the great impact this improvement could have on the UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. for blind users, the Team decided to keep an eye on the issue and rediscuss it in the future.

#meeting-notes

Stefano Minoia 6:00 pm on August 20, 2020
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Accessibility Team Meeting Agenda: August 21, 2020

This is the proposed agenda for the weekly 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 meeting on Friday, August 21, 2020 at 15:00 UTC.

If you want to have a topic added to the agenda, please mention it in the comments of this post.

The Accessibility Team bug scrub will be held on Friday, August 21, 2020, at 14:00 UTC.

This meeting is held in the #accessibility channel in the Making WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. (requires registration).

#agenda

Milana Cap 11:10 am on August 20, 2020
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X-post: External Linking Policy – Doodle for New Approach Discussion via Zoom

X-comment from +make.wordpress.org/docs: Comment on External Linking Policy – Doodle for New Approach Discussion via Zoom