COmanage Developers List

[Scott Koranda <>]

Some thoughts from the Grouper team on UI accessibility...

----- Forwarded message from "GW Brown, Information Systems and Computing" 
<>
 -----

Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:14:47 +0100
From: "GW Brown, Information Systems and Computing" 
<>
To: Emily Eisbruch 
<>,
        Grouper Dev 
<>
Subject: Re: [grouper-dev] Draft Minutes: Grouper-dev Call 12-Oct-2011

--On 19 October 2011 13:06 -0400 Emily Eisbruch 
<>
 wrote:

> [AI] (Gary) will email the Grouper-Dev list with specifics on UI
> accessibility issues

Apologies for the delay:

The original admin UI aimed to be accessible and deliberately avoided
the use of Javascript, partly because of cross-browser compatability
issues, but also because of accessibility constraints. We have
subsequently added Javascript for tooltips, and the Lite UI is
AJAX-based.

With the Grouper UI redesign slated for v2.2 extending Javascript use,
it is important to ensure that the UI is accessible. This is mandated
by legislation in various countries and, in particular, is an
important factor for adoption in some HE institutions.

Fortunately, accessibility standards have developed, and there are
many cross browser Javascript libraries which are designed to
facilitate the creation of accessible applications. So, in addition to
the original W3C standards
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG1AAA-Conformance>, the new UI should aim to
comply with WAI-ARIA  (http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria).

It looks like validation tools are a bit thin on the ground - partly
because WAI-ARIA is supported in HTML 5 which is still being
finalized, however, <http://about.validator.nu/> and
<http://validator.w3.org/> have some support.

I've always thought that there are two parts to accessibility:
1) the box-ticking conformance with standards
2) actual usability by real individuals who rely on accessibility

Even if we make the effort during the re-design to ensure conformance
with standards it is hard to know how 'successful' we have been. Also,
compliance often drifts over time as new features are added (as has
happened with the current UI). Ideally we could do with some external
agency (or someone with a real interest) to check our compliance and
its effectiveness.

Gary

----------------------
GW Brown, IT Services


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