Accessibility Mandate

On Nov 26, 2016 I first published a MODX Advisory Board DRAFT of an Accessibility Mandate
https://github.com/modxcms/mab-recommendations/pull/3

And since then I've been rather stuck tying up the loose ends. I'd appreciate community feedback, especially from anyone with experience using assistive technology.

Some loose ends are:

• How is a PR given an a11y stamp of approval?
• How are accessibility advisors appointed to those in need of one?
• Could and should we form an Accessibility Advisory Board?

I decided not to include mandating accessibility in MODX Extras however I do think it is important we advocate best practices and provide tooling that meets accessibility requirements. I believe strongly in a11y-all-the-things, just not as much as I believe in creative freedom (of developers). If someone wants to publish an inaccessible MODX Extra I feel they should be free to do so. Perhaps we could add an a11y label to the repo so it is easy to find Extras that have been given the a11y stamp of approval. [ed. note: dinocorn last edited this post 6 years, 10 months ago.]

I have no strong feelings on the other points (though I approve of the intent), but I'd like if there were a way to help extra authors be aware of the accessibility issues with their extras and advise them on how to fix them. I understand that doing that might not be practical due to available resources (we still don't even have ratings for extras).

Quote from: BobRay at Jun 15, 2017, 09:21 PM

but I'd like if there were a way to help extra authors be aware of the accessibility issues with their extras and advise them on how to fix them

I think part of this can be done by upstreaming some of the a11y research we've done to documentation and a "style guide" that is open to the community. But ultimately I think we'd need an "accessibility group" of contributors. "If you aren't or can't afford an accessibility expert, one will be appointed to you". But even accessibility experts can benefit greatly from a set of fresh eyes (or screen readers), so I think this would be beneficial to everyone.

Couldn't agree more.

Quote from: dinocorn at Jun 15, 2017, 07:07 PM

Accessibility Mandate
https://github.com/modxcms/mab-recommendations/pull/3

Nice find when returning to MODX after a while

As to "latest accessibility standard", you clearly pointed out that WCAG would not do it all the way down. While waiting for the next W3C recommendations, you might as well have a look at ISO 9241-171 "Software accessibility". It applies to web applications as well as desktop software. While somewhat outdated in technical concepts, you find a lot of usability aspects in there, i.e. detailed hints for keyboard support, focus tracking, screen reader support, etc.

There is a new testing procedure available to assess the accessibility of software, based on ISO 9241-171, WCAG and more standards: http://www.biti-test.de - alas, so far in German only. To apply it on web applications, I combine it with http://www.bitvtest.de, which is the testing procedure for acessible websites, based on WCAG and German law.

This may give a hint to your question, how to put an accessibilty stamp on MODX core and extras.

• First of all, you need a testing procedure, i.e. an operalisation of accessibility requirements, how to test them. It should include a scoring, or agreed level of conformance: how good is good enough? MODX should build its ouwn testing procedure, as there are no commonly agreed labels outside. The BITV-Test mentioned can give a basis, but needs an enhancement, as it is lacking the dynamic aspects of web applications.
• Next, you need experts who can apply the testing procedure, and explain it to developers. You need more than one expert. When it comes to the ordeal - deciding on a conformance label - it has proven beneficial to have a "tandem" procedure, or 4-eyes-decision, of two independently testing persons.
• Could and should we form an Accessibility Advisory Board? - Yes, besides the experts it would be good to have people whith accessibilities in there who can give their personal issues as an input.

There is an english Version of the BITV-Test on the way, so there is hope to come to an end without too much of an effort. I would be glad to assist when building the MODX a11y testing procedure.

Best,
Brigitte. [ed. note: BrigitteB last edited this post 6 years, 8 months ago.]

Quote from: BrigitteB at Aug 12, 2017, 03:17 PM

There is an english Version of the BITV-Test on the way, so there is hope to come to an end without too much of an effort. I would be glad to assist when building the MODX a11y testing procedure.

Awesome. Thanks Brigitte. We have at least one German speaker on the MAB right now so even if the documents aren't translated perhaps they could translate them for us.

For the Accessibility Advisory Board I would really like to get some disabled end users on board; their insight and perspective is invaluable.