On 15 January 2014 11:44, rexx <rexx@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> I'm quite happy to continue giving advice on the issues covered at
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Accessibility
>
> and I'd like to see it adopted as default on the WMUK Wiki, but I question
> the value of volunteers re-inventing the wheel by chasing "gaps" that I'm
> not at all sure actually exist.

I echo Doug's comments, and have three points and a suggestion to add:

The first step should be to ask WMF what work is already in hand.

Accessibility professionals always recommend testing sites (or planned
changes to them with a variety of real users, who have a range of
disabilities, and who use a variety of assistive tools.

The biggest barrier in my experience is community resistance to
accessibility improvements (witness the alt text issue referred to on
the parallel discussion on the WMUK wiki, where alt text descriptions
of images were deemed "too subjective" and "unverifiable").

I suggest we ask Bruce Lawson, accessibility and web standards
advocate (disclosure; and a personal friend) with Opera (the browser
vendor) to review Wikipedia and one to two sister sites, and give a
talk at Wikimania (or, if he's not available, to recommend someone who
can).

--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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