[theme-reviewers] Accessible theme issues

[Joe Dolson]

Actually, I think that there's a vast difference between stating that
"style, graphics, and features" are either accessible or inaccessible
versus stating that a specific set of style/graphics/features are
inaccessible -- one is a generic context, the other is a specific
context. There's nothing subjective about stating that it is not a web
accessibility problem to *have* style, graphics, and features -- but
it may be a web accessibility problem in how they are realized, as you
mention.

This is an interesting conversation, but probably getting off topic -
if you'd like to continue it off-list, I'd welcome that; but I don't
want to barrage the entire list with the conversation.

Your examples below are specific concerns; my response was to the
statement "style/graphic/feature heavy themes (the themes that most
people are after), by their very definition are not very accessible."
-- and my quarrel is with that over-arching qualification. It's a
nitpicky thing, but there's a long history of designers and developers
thinking that accessibility meant that they could not use a wide
variety of interesting and aesthetically appealing design concepts or
features, and I've worked hard to try and debunk that misconception.

Best,
Joe


On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 5:48 PM, Bryan Hadaway <bhadaway at gmail.com> wrote:
> Therein lies the trouble, see, we've already gotten subjective into what is
> considered "accessible". I say something is an accessibility issue, you say
> it isn't. We're both merely forming our opinions (neither of us are stating
> facts - I hope you do realize that).
>
> Is a media heavy website accessible to users with really slow internet? Yes,
> in 2012 that is still a factor, there are still even complete dead zones (no
> internet at all) in the US.
>
> What about colors for the color blind?
>
> What about font size, color and typography for the hard of sight?
>
> What about sliders or flashing graphics for epileptics?
>
> What about responsiveness for people with small screens?
>
> And the list goes on and on and on.
>
> Accessibility is a good thing, I don't see how anyone could argue that, but
> to enforce that standard to any degree is a tough one. Any one of the above
> issues might stop half the people submitting themes right now dead in their
> tracks. Would it be better to filter them out or help them get their theme
> approved anyways, because it will still be a theme with enough value to help
> out thousands of people?
>
> And there's also simply a factor of fun here, there are a lot of awful, ugly
> themes in the repository, but so be it, because in the spirit of an open
> source community, come one, come all and contribute (and a theme I might
> find unusable and ugly someone else might think is awesome and perfect for
> their project).
>
> I totally get what you're saying about at least making it possible to filter
> out the best quality themes from all the other themes (I just don't see how
> that's impossible unless we made the review process more strict). I'm
> curious, have you submitted or are you currently working on an accessible
> theme? You might consider making a theme framework called Accessibility and
> make it the most accessible theme there is. That would be a great way to
> contribute.
>
> I'm sure you know more about the subject than me, but here are some links of
> interest:
>
> http://codex.wordpress.org/Accessibility
> http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/search.php?q=accessibility
> http://thinkingaccessible.com/top-accessible-wordpress-themes/
>
> I'm not sure if an admin has responded yet or not, I'm just a reviewer
> sharing my opinion. An admin can give more of a definitive yes/no/maybe
> answer.
>
>
> Thanks, Bryan
>
>
> Bryan Phillip Hadaway
>
>
> Web & Graphic Designer
> calmestghost.com
> bhadaway at gmail.com
>
>
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>
>
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Joseph Dolson
Accessibility consultant and WordPress developer
http://www.joedolson.com
http://profiles.wordpress.org/joedolson