[wp-hackers] Accessibility of WP back end (was: Is WP back end supposed to work without JavaScript?)

[Rich Pedley]

Making the back end of WordPress accessible is something I'd certainly
be interested in helping with, and I know a few other people that
would be as well.

I've looked at the page referenced to from trac
http://www.wac.ohio-state.edu/tutorials/forms/hiding-labels.htm
and that page is out of date - I'm sure Jaws now honours display:none
for a start. Moving labels off screen via the 'off-left' technique
appears to be the best solution.

You also have to be aware that a lot of screen readers have a 'form'
mode. In which they won't read anything out except for form tags -
legends labels etc. So any additional text should not appear within
the form unless associated with form markup. But adding in labels is
only a portion of what needs doing, I'd be arguing that the scope= in
tables is not the best solution and that headers and ids should be
used (but I'll admit to not being upto dat on what screenreaders can
cope with best). I'd also be suggesting that using tables to layout
forms isn't good...

IF Automattic decide they want the back end to be accessible, firstly
all javascript should be turned off, and the interface tested to be
working. Then add the javascript back in as an enhancement - that
alone will help. (and yes I know these days that some of the screen
readers can cope with javascript).


Rich

-- 
my mind is on a permanent tangent
http://cms.elfden.co.uk/