Grouper Developers Forum

[Keith Hazelton <>]

For other reasons some of us (COmanage) are looking forward to a chat
with Colin Clark mid-November.  He's lead software architect at:

http://idrc.ocad.ca/

where Fluid activity is strong.  Perhaps a shared AdobeConnect session
with him?

            --Keith
______________________
On Wed, 2011-10-26 at 08:10 -0500, Thomas Barton wrote:
> Thanks Gary. One organization that might offer us the service of
> helping our accessibility conformance is Fluid. If not today, then for
> our next call let's decide how we will ensure conformance for the 2.2
> UI.
> 
> Tom (mobile)
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: GW Brown, Information Systems and Computing
> []
> Received: Wednesday, 26 Oct 2011, 3:16am
> 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
> 
>