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Accessibility Issues

  1. swoolrich
    Member

    I've deliberately *not* put any particular blog here.

    My grip is that I've found a second theme (Modularity Lite) where I, someone with a good-quality calibrated screen and fully-corrected eyesight, cannot read some of the text as it's too dark to be on a black background.

    Last week I had a similar grip with the contact form when using the Andrea theme.

    Do WordPress take the trouble to run themes through this sort of tool?
    http://juicystudio.com/article/colour-contrast-analyser-firefox-extension.php

    If they do presumably they are not acting on it's reports, if they don't I wonder why not?

    Accessibility is a hot topic in the UK, and I suspect in the rest of Europe and the US. I'd like to see WordPress take it seriously. I quote from the above URL:

    It's important to remember that both the luminosity contrast ratio or the colour combination algorithm suggested by AERT have never been recommendations; they're suggestions by two WAI working groups to help determine whether or not the contrast between two colours can be read by people with colour blindness or other visual impairments. The luminosity contrast ratio algorithm will become a recommendation when WCAG 2 becomes a recommendation if it is still listed in the guidelines.

  2. maidiebike
    Member

    @swoolrich

    Perhaps if you could provide us a link with contrasting colour sample demos to help us understand some of the html coding / alogrithms. Obviously you know some great resources /examples on Internet instead of us wasting time looking at the wrong/not so good Internet examples/resources.

    Too bad this supportbot automated message, kicks out legitimate queries at times.

  3. swoolrich
    Member

    You have the link I know of in my original post and I have clearly (I think) descibed the issue in Modularity Lite - in Andrea it's seeing where the fields to fill in in the Contact Form are.

    Really, it doesn't take rocket science to look at the two themes I've mentioned and realise that some areas are hard to read for even an normally sighted person. Nor does it take rocket science to use Google to find both a test program and the WCAG guidelines:

    http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/
    http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
    http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#visual-audio-contrast
    http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/#qr-visual-audio-contrast-contrast

  4. swoolrich
    Member

    BTW have switched theme on one of my blogs to resolve it's visibility issues, but that really shouldn't have to happen.

    I know the above is a bit of a rant, but I really was gobsmacked to realised just how bad a couple of themes are (and others might be) in this respect. I really do think WP needs to get it's act togeather about this issue.

  5. raincoaster
    Member

    If you want to give staff feedback, the forums are not the best place. The forums are mostly volunteer-staffed, and we can't answer this or change the development procedures here. And as you know, they're away till the 16th. Send them a ticket when they get back from your dashboard.

  6. swoolrich
    Member

    @raincoaster, As it happens I had no idea the whole of support had shut down for a week until just before I read your comment. However that presumably accounts for why I haven't had a reply from anyone for the ticket I put in a couple of days ago.

    Also, what do you think is the best place to 'give them feedback'? By lodging a ticket?

  7. raincoaster
    Member

    Yes, definitely a ticket is the best way. They generally read those first, then the forums when they run out of tickets? and then they read emails. At least, as far as I can see.

  8. lance
    Theme Wrangler

    We constantly monitor the forums and reply as best we can. :)

    @swoolrich We'll get back to you as soon as possible on your support tickets. Regarding color contrast: yes, we do try our best to make sure our themes work and have sufficient color contrast.

    What you could do to help us out is link to a screenshot (or send it in via email) of the exact case where you think it's not working properly. We'll take a look and fix it if it's a bug. There could also be cases where the color choice is part of the design, and isn't something we'll necessarily fix. It really depends on the theme.

    As @maidiebike said, examples help make sure we are all looking at the same place.

  9. swoolrich
    Member

    @lance, I have sent an email with a bit of screen shot attached with a red ring round the dark text.

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