[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #21324: Visible Focus within Admin Screens could be much clearer.

[WordPress Trac]

#21324: Visible Focus within Admin Screens could be much clearer.
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 Reporter:  grahamarmfield  |       Owner:
     Type:  task (blessed)  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal          |   Milestone:  3.5
Component:  Accessibility   |     Version:  3.4.1
 Severity:  normal          |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch       |
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Comment (by helenyhou):

 Replying to [comment:45 grahamarmfield]:
 > I know very little about how the WordPress Admin screens are put
 together but I am surprised that it's necessary to use javascript to
 toggle the focus state on and off.

 `:focus` styles appear whenever you've either tabbed to an item or clicked
 on it (mouse down), and stays after mouse up. `:active` is the style that
 appears only on mouse down. There is no real keyboard-only interaction
 state. My take here is that if the style applied has to be whisked away by
 JavaScript in order to maintain the visual, then we have gone too far into
 what I would consider enhanced accessibility as default rather than
 improved accessibility. I think it's fair to differentiate the two, and
 feel rather as though I am being taken as saying that we shouldn't improve
 the accessibility at all here, which is not true.

 I am trying to stay more aware of accessibility in core and make sure we
 don't neglect it, even though I am not any sort of expert in or even user
 of said features beyond preferring to stay on the keyboard, nor a lead or
 core developer by any means. What I am asking in this situation is why we
 should feel that JS is an acceptable workaround, and what an alternative
 no-JS solution might be, be it an outline or something else that somebody
 comes up with.

 > You say yourself that having a background colour is more visible than an
 outline - and that's what so good about the background colour option for
 me. Outlines can be easily overlooked. I'm sure that it feels odd to see a
 background colour on focus within the admin screens but to me this looks
 like a very positive development. Those users using a mouse will not see
 the background colour.

 As above, those using the mouse do see the background color without
 JavaScript, which I also find jarring and rather not acceptable as the
 '''default''' setting in core. Also, though the background color is more
 noticeable on its own merits, I do still feel that it makes regular text
 links rather more difficult to read because generally the background color
 does not extend past the edges of the text, and when it does, it looks a
 little bit random, or broken. One of the first things we learn about text
 on the web is that it's very difficult to read when it has a lack of
 negative space around it, yet that lack of negative space is exactly what
 the background color does here. We cannot add padding to it without
 adversely affecting everything in the admin, so that is unfortunately not
 an option.

 > My view is that improved accessibility should be a default option
 wherever possible - not subject to a plugin. I don't believe any of the
 accessibility improvements in 3.5 that I've seen so far compromise the
 experience for existing users.

 Improved, yes. Enhanced, not if it affects the experience for all users. I
 am very happy with everything else we've seen in 3.5 so far, including
 what's in the works, but this particular case does not seem right to me,
 and it's mostly because of the JS required. I can live with not personally
 liking the background color if those who need high visibility find it to
 be more useful, but requiring a JS workaround as the default in core is
 not acceptable.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/21324#comment:48>
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