Accessibility: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:40, 10 April 2014

Moodle's goal is to be fully accessible and usable for all users regardless of ability.

This (DRAFT) page describes the current state of accessibility in Moodle as well as our plans for the future.

Established practices

Moodle core developers spend a lot of time making sure new development are accessible. Part of the process when building new code in Moodle is to follow established best practices and part of the process for accepting new code into core is to test pages carefully and gather feedback from experts.

Conformance to standards

The Moodle platform is a complex piece of machinery with many working parts. Code is always evolving. Modules can be enabled and disabled. The interface can be heavily customised using themes and thousands of settings. The actual content can be produced by any teacher or any student.

As such it is impossible to say with 100% certainty whether Moodle or any site based on Moodle is absolutely accessible or not. Accessibility is not a state, it is a process of continuous improvement in response to our users and the wider technical environment.

WCAG 2.0

We hope to have document here soon discussing how well Moodle meets WCAG 2.0 requirements.

ATAG 2.0

In Moodle 2.7 a new editor Atto was added which is intended not only to improve how everyone can use the editor itself, but also to improve the accessibility of the content produced with it.
A conformance report is planned.

Section 508 (US)

Moodlerooms (a Moodle Partner) have a VPAT statement on their web site.

SENDA UK

No known SENDA report exists

Discussions

One of the main places accessibility work is being carried out right now is on the Moodle Accessibility Collaboration Group mailing list, see http://collaborate.athenpro.org/group/moodle/

There are also many discussion on issues in the Moodle Tracker

Known Bugs and issues

This is the main list of accessibility issues, organised by priority. This list is always changing.

Areas of major development

Atto - a new text editor
Filepicker

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Websites built with '''accessibility''' in mind are flexible in meeting different user needs, preferences and suituations. Though these methods can increase [[usability]] for everyone who uses the web they are often legally required to be implemented in a specific effort to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities.
+{{About Moodle}}
+Moodle's goal is to be fully accessible and usable for all users regardless of ability.
-See the tracker under [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7396 Accessibility Compliance in Moodle 1.8] and [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7860 Compliance with Italian Leglislation on Accessibility] for more information on what we are doing for Moodle 1.8.
+This (DRAFT) page describes the current state of accessibility in Moodle as well as our plans for the future.
+== Established practices ==
-== Starting points ==
+Moodle core developers spend a lot of time making sure new development are accessible.  Part of the process when building new code in Moodle is to follow established best practices and part of the process for accepting new code into core is to test pages carefully and gather feedback from experts.
-These are some readable introductions to accessibility that cover; what accessibility is, why it is important, as well as practical advice.
+== Conformance to standards ==
-* [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php Web Accessibility Initiative's ''Introduction to Web Accessibility'']
-* [http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ Mark Pilgrim's ''Dive into Accessibility'']
-* [http://joeclark.org/book/ Joe Clark's ''Building Accessible Websites'' book]
-== Standards, guidelines and legislation ==
+The Moodle platform is a complex piece of machinery with many working parts.  Code is always evolving.  Modules can be enabled and disabled.  The interface can be heavily customised using themes and thousands of settings.  The actual content can be produced by any teacher or any student.
-* [http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld200001/ldbills/003/2001003.htm SENDA - Special Educational Needs and Disability Act/Bill]
+As such it is impossible to say with 100% certainty whether Moodle or any site based on Moodle is absolutely accessible or not.  Accessibility is not a state, it is a process of continuous improvement in response to our users and the wider technical environment.
-* [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/1995050.htm Disability Discrimination Act 1995]
-* [http://www.section508.gov/ Section 508]
-* [http://www.w3.org/WAI/ Web Accessibility Initiative]
-** [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)]
-** [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (draft)]
-*** [http://www.alistapart.com/articles/tohellwithwcag2 an article on the problems with WCAG2]
-== Tools ==
+=== WCAG 2.0 ===
-* [[Web developer extension]] for [[Firefox]]
+* We hope to have document here soon discussing how well Moodle meets WCAG 2.0 requirements.
-* [[Accessibility extension]] for Firefox
-* [[Validator]]s (for [[HTML]],[[CSS]] and [[RSS]])
-* [http://cynthiasays.com/ Cynthia Says accessibility checker]
-see also this [http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/complete long list of accessibility tools].
+=== ATAG 2.0 ===
-== Resources ==
+* In Moodle 2.7 a new editor Atto was added which is intended not only to improve how everyone can use the editor itself, but also to improve the accessibility of the content produced with it.
+* A conformance report is planned.
-* [http://webstandards.org/action/atf/manifesto/ Web Standards.org's ''Accessibility Task Force Manifesto'']
+=== Section 508 (US) ===
-* [http://alistapart.com/topics/userscience/accessibility/ Accessibility articles from ''A List Apart'']
-* [http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/08/29/semantics Mark Pilgrim's ''Won’t somebody please think of the gerbils?'']
+* Moodlerooms (a Moodle Partner) have a [http://www.moodlerooms.com/accessibility VPAT statement] on their web site.
-* [http://joeclark.org/access/webaccess/ Joe Clark's writings on accessibility]
-* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility Wikipedia article on ''Web Accessibility'']
-* [http://juicystudio.com/article/validity-accessibility.php ''Validity and Accessibility'']
+=== SENDA UK ===
-* [http://www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/inter/support/accessibility/access_vids.cfm Videos showing as student accessing another Learning Management System via Screen Reader software]
+* No known SENDA report exists
+== Discussions ==
+One of the main places accessibility work is being carried out right now is on the Moodle Accessibility Collaboration Group mailing list, see http://collaborate.athenpro.org/group/moodle/
+There are also many discussion on issues in the [https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL/component/10083/?selectedTab=com.atlassian.jira.jira-projects-plugin:component-issues-panel Moodle Tracker]
+== Known Bugs and issues ==
+This is [https://tracker.moodle.org/issues/?jql=component%20%3D%20Accessibility%20AND%20project%20%3D%20MDL%20AND%20resolution%20%3D%20Unresolved%20ORDER%20BY%20priority%20DESC the main list of accessibility issues], organised by priority.  This list is always changing.
+== Areas of major development ==
+* Atto - a new text editor
+* Filepicker
 == See also ==
-* [[Moodle Accessibility Specification]]
+[[dev:Accessibility|Accessibility for Moodle Developers]]
-* [[Semantic HTML]]
-* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=820 Accessibility forum on Moodle.org]
-* [http://www.easy.pro.br/ EASY: Interface Between The Virtual Environment Moodle Learning and People with Visual Impairments]

Documentation