[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #37661: A New Experience for Discovering, Installing, and Previewing Themes in the Customizer

[WordPress Trac]

#37661: A New Experience for Discovering, Installing, and Previewing Themes in the
Customizer
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 Reporter:  celloexpressions         |       Owner:  celloexpressions
     Type:  feature request          |      Status:  closed
 Priority:  high                     |   Milestone:  4.7
Component:  Customize                |     Version:  4.2
 Severity:  normal                   |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch has-           |     Focuses:  ui, accessibility,
  screenshots needs-testing has-     |  javascript
  user-testing ux-feedback           |
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Changes (by arush):

 * status:  assigned => closed


Comment:

 Regarding accessibility feedback on this feature, let's start with the
 positive. First, kudos for asking for an accessibility review in the first
 place. I think this may be a first for the Customizer, so while you're
 reading this comment, try to keep in mind that compared to the rest of the
 WordPress back end, the Customizer has had almost no work done on it to
 fix its accessibility challenges.

 As far as making the theme preview/install feature accessible, there's
 very little that can actually be done on that front, because the
 Customizer itself has some very significant challenges. Keyboard works for
 the most part, and for searching and previewing installed themes, you can
 do this with a screen reader, but there's almost no feedback about exactly
 what you're pressing enter on. Tabbing through this interface, (as some
 screen reader users may prefer doing), presents an interface that's almost
 unintelligible, unless you're already familiar with the Customizer's
 quirks. If you want to install themes from the Customizer, that just
 doesn't show up. I've gone through the entire theme-change screen, and am
 not seeing an add-new or similar of any kind, just the ability to search
 and preview the themes that are already installed. This is with the latest
 version of trunk installed, latest stable version of NVDA, and latest
 stable version of Firefox. I haven't tested with Jaws for Windows or
 VoiceOver, but if it doesn't work in NVDA, odds are it's not going to be
 much better in the others. Jaws, at least, hacks the DOM whenever it can,
 but there's no reliable way to know what it does with scenarios like this,
 since VFO Group, (its developer), doesn't make that information publicly
 available. VoiceOver's in the same boat.

 As long as the "admin" way of installing themes is going to remain in
 place for now, I think it's safe to ship this, provided that rewriting the
 Customizer from the ground up gets put on the road map. That's the only
 way anything in the Customizer can start to become accessible and
 conformant with WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/37661#comment:83>
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