Accessibility WG Teleconference Minutes 08-16-2012

Attendees

  • Brian Richwine
  • Joe Humbert
  • Scott Williams
  • Gonzalo Silverio
  • Jane Berliss-Vincent

Sakai 2.9

Sakai 2.9 Release and Accessibility Testing

  • The 2.9.0-b07 (beta 7) will be released today or tomorrow (8-17-2012)
  • There are 10 blocker type Jiras left for 2.9
  • There will another beta tag (beta 8) release after the blockers are resolved for testing.  The release team hopes this will be released around August 31st.
  • Once those blocker issues are resolved and merge the release team will cut the first release candidate. They are shooting to have the first release candidate ready by the first or second week of September
  • A second release candidate is planned for the end of September.
  • The Accessibility Working Group (AWG) needs to start filing JIRA tickets as soon as possible, with the goal of having all tickets files before the first release candidate.
    • Critical Jira tickets should be filed first
    • The developers who could address the Jira tickets will be at their peak time of busyness as the school semester begins
  • There will be at least one point release (2.9.1) in between the release of 2.9 and 2.10.

2.9 Accessibility Review

2.9 Testing Problems or Concerns

  • Jane asked which tools she could focus on for testing
    • Brian, Gonzalo, and Joe suggested she review the recently updated "Add" and "Actions" menus in the resource tools
    • They recommended she wait till the most recent patch the submitted is pushed to the nightly server
    • Brian will check on the status of the patch and Gonzalo said that he would check in the patch
      • Gonzalo said he approved the patch so it could show up on the nightly servers as early as tomorrow afternoon
    • Brian also suggested reviewing
      • The quizzes and testing tool which has a new question type (computed question)
      • The OSP portfolio tool which has yet to be reviewed by the AWG
    • Brian and Joe will send Jane a test plan that she can follow.
  • Brian and Joe will discuss the recent work on the Resources tool "add" and "Actions" menus
    • The original menus were not easy to navigate and hard to understand for screen reader users
    • Brian looked at replacing the menus with ARIA menus
      • Unfortunately the pre-built ARIA menus were to code heavy and required too much modification and had multiple library dependancies
    • Brian decided to build his own menus from scratch
      • Included the ARIA menu roles
      • Coding the menu interactions to work similar to the neoportal menus
    • Joe tested the menus and noticed that each menu was housed in a table cell that had the ARIA application role attached to it.
    • JAWS would announce the application role as an ARIA landmark before and after each menu.  This could be annoying and adds a great deal of content AT users need to navigate through
    •  Joe found that the menus were still accessible with the application roles removed and Brian submitted a new patch
  • Joe will send out a compilled list for the major and critical issues culled from the accessibility review to the list for discussing in the next few weeks

Collaborative Testing

  • Even though the release of 2.9 will happen sooner than planned the group still would like to participate in a collaborative testing session
  • If the results from the collaborative testing will not be included in 2.9 the group will push to have them incorporated into 2.9.1
  • The group was originally going to review the portal chat, but Gonzalo said it will most likely not be included in 2.9.  He suggested we focus on the Resources tool instead
  • The group voted on it: (Resources was chosen)
    • Gonzalo = Resources
    • Joe = Resources
    • Scott = Resources
    • Jane = neutral
    • Brian = abstained
  • The chosen time from the Doodle poll was: Wednesday September 5th, 2012 from 2:00-4:00pm
  • Joe will send out the details the last week of August
  • The group can discuss the results at the AWG teleconference the next day (September 6th)

Samigo Jiras

  • Brian discussed the two significant outstanding Samigo Jira tickets:
    SAM-1295 - Getting issue details... STATUS
    and
    SAM-1296 - Getting issue details... STATUS
  • Brian said these would be Blockers if accessibility issues were allowed to be blockers
  • SAM-1295 issue
    • There is a screen cast of the SAM-1295 issue included in the Jira ticket (http://screencast.com/t/di6aofsmi)
    • Brian created multiple patches to address the issue.  Unfortunately after further testing he found that the first patch needed to be removed and only the second patch applied.
    • The issues is that the Samigo code does not render the radio button groups in an accessible manner
      • The radio buttons do not appears as a group, they are conveyed to AT as individual radio buttons
        • They are rendered in a table without labeles
        • Numerous keyboard accessibility issues including the problem that moving through the radio buttons (tabbing/arrowing) will always select the last radio button
        • This is a big problem for a test of quiz 
    • The visual grouping of the radio buttons is accomplished with JavaScript
    • Brian included multiple modifications in the patches:
      • Changed the script to render the radio buttons with labels outside of the table
      • He used jQuery to move the radio buttons into the table
  • SAM-1296
    • Concerns the 5 minute warning modal dialog box which appears during quizzes and tests.
    • The screen reader users are forced into application mode when they enter the dialog and cannot ready the content of the dialog.
      • The dialog is not coded correctly to work with AT.
      • There are also keyboard navigation and instruction issues.
    • Brian recommends against using modal dialog for the time being. Instead a div element code as an ARIA alert or live region should be used
    • Due to Brian's unfamiliarity with JSF programming, he does not feel qualified to work on a solution.
    • Joe said he would be willing to reach out the the computer science and informatics programs to try and find someone that may be able to work on a solution. Brian will also investigate other avenues. 

Any Other Business

Change in Accessibility Working Group Lead

  • Someone from Indiana has lead the AWG for the past 2 years.
  • Previous leads were:
    • Mike Elledge (Michigan State)
    • Margaret Londergan (IU)
  • Brian received multiple emails asking if Indiana University owned the AWG
  • Most other working groups have rotating leadership
  • Brian has been told he must give up the Lead because of expanded responsibilities at IU and would like someone not from IU to lead the group
  • Brian said he will send a request to Neil Caden who is the head of the TCC to ask for volunteers from outside the AWG.
  • Brian solicited comments from the group.
    • Gonzalo asked for volunteers. No one volunteered.
  • Brian and Joe are willing to provide guidance to the new lead.
  • Brian  suggested posting the request to the AWG mailing list.
    • Scott felt a back channel route would be more productive
  • Gonzalo suggested contacting Neil Caden, Anthony White, or the TCC