In the old days (2011), the WMF had design guidelines that discussed
accessibility issues such as appropriate font sizes, use of colors, and
text contrast. These guidelines were later replaced with the Agora
guidelines (
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Design)
which specify only that "We must enable access for users with impairments."
Accessibility is central to our mission as an organization and very
important to our community. In fact the en.wiki community has enacted their
own comprehensive accessibility guidelines for content:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Accessibility
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Accessibility_dos_and_don'ts
Mediawiki developers also have a set of published accessibility guidelines:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Accessibility_guide_for_developers
The issue of accessibility in MediaWiki UX design has been raised numerous
times in the recent past, most commonly in regard to font sizes and colors.
I'm personally aware of it coming up at least 5 times in the past year
(Typography Refresh, Flow, Echo, Mobile, NavPopups). Rather than rehashing
the same discussions each time, I would encourage the design team to come
up with a new set of accessibility guidelines that everyone can refer to
and agree on. I would encourage stealing ideas from the en.wiki guidelines
and the WCAG guidelines (
http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/). I
would also suggest that the design team invest in a pair of scratched-up
coke-bottle glasses that each design mock-up can be tested with :)
Ryan Kaldari