RE: some accessibility/usability problems with bugzilla

+ adding W3C staff directly to this thread

> Paul, Sam, and Maciej, would it be possible for Bugzilla to be improved before the HTML WG asks for Last Call comments? I know Paul said that he would watch the comment list and assist people if they have trouble, which is helpful. But it would be great if they could file bugs directly without encountering major accessibility/usability problems.

Judy, Philippe, Mike:  

I have to wonder if the accessibility of Bugzilla has been considered before by the W3C?  I expect this problem is germane to anyone using Bugzilla not just the HTML WG.

Is our only mitigation to help anyone encountering major accessibility/usability problems with Bugzilla or has W3C considered asking for changes to the interface to handle the kinds of problems identified in this thread?

/paulc

Paul Cotton, Microsoft Canada
17 Eleanor Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K2E 6A3
Tel: (425) 705-9596 Fax: (425) 936-7329


-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Carlson [mailto:laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 8:38 PM
To: Gregory J. Rosmaita; Paul Cotton; Maciej Stachowiak; Sam Ruby
Cc: public-html-a11y@w3.org; wai-xtech@w3.org
Subject: Re: some accessibility/usability problems with bugzilla

Hi Gregory,

> a while ago, the HTML Accessibility Task Force list was asked, "what
> are some of the accessibility problems with bugzilla"

That was touched on last March in the "HTML comment list, Bugzilla,
and the accessibility task force" thread [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].

> -- here are a few to start:

Thanks for the list. I am sure the HTML Chairs will be interested in
your experience using Bugzilla, as it is a major component in the HTML
Decision Process, which states "Issues should be filed as bugs in W3C
Bugzilla to be formally considered." [6]

> 1. no headers on pages to organize / give structure to content;
>
> 2. use of TABLE to control layout;
>
> 3. bug submission interface particularly bad:
>
> 3.1. comboboxes set to fire onChange events which lack explicit
> submission mechanisms;
>
> 3.2. when selecting a component the dynamically updated "Component
> Description" lacks an ARIA live-region, so the description is not
> communicated to, for example, a screen reader user.
>
> 3.3. the FORM is embedded in a TABLE -- this means that i as a speech
> user need to use TABLE-mode to navigate the table, tnen drop into
> (mutually exclusive) forms-mode to interact with the forms;
>
> 4. overall, the bugzilla interface could use an overhaul or at least
> the addition of some serious ARIA markup;
>
> those are MERELY the "brightest of the lowlights" of bugzilla -- i'm
> sure there are others who will chime in on bugzilla's weaknesses,

Paul, Sam, and Maciej, would it be possible for Bugzilla to be
improved before the HTML WG asks for Last Call comments? I know Paul
said that he would watch the comment list and assist people if they
have trouble, which is helpful. But it would be great if they could
file bugs directly without encountering major accessibility/usability
problems.

Best Regards,
Laura

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-a11y/2010Mar/0307.html

[2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-a11y/2010Mar/0421.html

[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-a11y/2010Mar/0424.html

[4] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-a11y/2010Mar/0428.html

[5] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-a11y/2010Mar/0435.html

[6] http://dev.w3.org/html5/decision-policy/decision-policy.html


-- 
Laura L. Carlson

Received on Thursday, 29 July 2010 21:17:45 UTC