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Accessibility issue
I pointed out a sort of overarching issue with the FAQ documentation as currently written to rho, and, in traditional DW fashion, she asked me to take the first pass at solving it.
The problem is that some of the documentation is written with visual, spatial, or movement-specific language. To the extent possible, FAQs/sitedoc should not be written with the assumption that the eventual reader is going to be seeing the same images and screen ratios, nor that they'll be interacting with their computer with the same input devices as the writer's. On the one hand, you have people with disabilities using the site; on the other hand, you have people with an array of mobile devices using the site; and on the third hand, you have a few people out there still cruising in lynx, because they're Richard Stallman. (Not to mention that we'll support different siteschemes, and people will do all manner of funky things with their journal styles.)
I'm going to do a first sweep through the FAQ docs as currently written, but I strongly suggest you guys hook up with the Accessibility team for more expert advice. (For instance, I am unsure about whether or not dropdown menu is a term that is meaningful on a screenreader.) My inexpert advice is that, wherever possible, instead of describing a visual element, you include the image and its alt-text as it will appear on the site (maybe with a note that it's the site default?), and if you can skip the visual element and just link to the thingy in question, that's even better.
By visuospatiai issue, I mean that the FAQ says "perform this motion" for interacting with the site, or "item found to the left of second item" or "choose the [textual description of image] to accomplish task" Any language which requires the user to be seeing the same site visually or using the mouse or keyboard like the writer.
Additionally, all link text should be meaningful ("Choose your sitescheme" instead of "click here to"), and, a title attribute should be set when the link text doesn't match the page title of the page the link refers to.
FYI Each tab of my account settings has a URL, so you can link directly to that tab.
FAQ's w/ visuospatial language
How do I confirm my email address? typed rather than entered
How do I change my email address? verbal redirect to settings tab
How do I change my password? verbal redirect to settings tab
How do I post an entry? vs
How do I post an entry to a community (or alternative journal)? vs
How do I restrict who can see my entry? vs
How can I choose which usericon to use? vs
How do I edit or delete an entry? vs
How does comment threading work? vs
What happens when there are large numbers of comments? uses "see" a lot
What are the limits on comments? see
Can I edit or delete my comment? vs
What can I do with comments posted to my journal? vs
How do I control who can comment on my journal? settings tab; vs
What is comment screening? vs
What is comment IP logging? settings tab, vs
What is a profile and how do I update mine? vs
How do I subscribe to other journals? vs
How do I grant access to my protected content to other journals? vs
How do I unsubscribe or revoke access from another journal? vs
What are notifications? settings tab
What is tracking? This might be a good model for how to deal w/ images that will be changed on user site schemes!
How do I stop tracking something? settings tab
P.S. Psst.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
forthwritten. May want to include site-specific URL forms in What Dreamwidth specific markup can I use?. All the lj were replaced with site.
The problem is that some of the documentation is written with visual, spatial, or movement-specific language. To the extent possible, FAQs/sitedoc should not be written with the assumption that the eventual reader is going to be seeing the same images and screen ratios, nor that they'll be interacting with their computer with the same input devices as the writer's. On the one hand, you have people with disabilities using the site; on the other hand, you have people with an array of mobile devices using the site; and on the third hand, you have a few people out there still cruising in lynx, because they're Richard Stallman. (Not to mention that we'll support different siteschemes, and people will do all manner of funky things with their journal styles.)
I'm going to do a first sweep through the FAQ docs as currently written, but I strongly suggest you guys hook up with the Accessibility team for more expert advice. (For instance, I am unsure about whether or not dropdown menu is a term that is meaningful on a screenreader.) My inexpert advice is that, wherever possible, instead of describing a visual element, you include the image and its alt-text as it will appear on the site (maybe with a note that it's the site default?), and if you can skip the visual element and just link to the thingy in question, that's even better.
By visuospatiai issue, I mean that the FAQ says "perform this motion" for interacting with the site, or "item found to the left of second item" or "choose the [textual description of image] to accomplish task" Any language which requires the user to be seeing the same site visually or using the mouse or keyboard like the writer.
Additionally, all link text should be meaningful ("Choose your sitescheme" instead of "click here to"), and, a title attribute should be set when the link text doesn't match the page title of the page the link refers to.
FYI Each tab of my account settings has a URL, so you can link directly to that tab.
FAQ's w/ visuospatial language
How do I confirm my email address? typed rather than entered
How do I change my email address? verbal redirect to settings tab
How do I change my password? verbal redirect to settings tab
How do I post an entry? vs
How do I post an entry to a community (or alternative journal)? vs
How do I restrict who can see my entry? vs
How can I choose which usericon to use? vs
How do I edit or delete an entry? vs
How does comment threading work? vs
What happens when there are large numbers of comments? uses "see" a lot
What are the limits on comments? see
Can I edit or delete my comment? vs
What can I do with comments posted to my journal? vs
How do I control who can comment on my journal? settings tab; vs
What is comment screening? vs
What is comment IP logging? settings tab, vs
What is a profile and how do I update mine? vs
How do I subscribe to other journals? vs
How do I grant access to my protected content to other journals? vs
How do I unsubscribe or revoke access from another journal? vs
What are notifications? settings tab
What is tracking? This might be a good model for how to deal w/ images that will be changed on user site schemes!
How do I stop tracking something? settings tab
P.S. Psst.
forthwritten. May want to include site-specific URL forms in What Dreamwidth specific markup can I use?. All the lj were replaced with site.
accessibility guidelines for doc and copy writers
And the last thing I want is to step on anybody's toes, or come swanning in when somebody else has already been *doing* that. (Just slap me. Hard.) I'm going to go back through everything you've said here,
One of the problems I'm having when I work on the translation strings, I'll say right up front, is having no idea of what they do "in the wild" (what the page would look like, what actual function the string performs, or where it does it). So I'm thinking that fixing this may be a case of first making all the language (on the translation strings; I don't know where we are in the FAQs) conform to DW standard (and we're almost done with that!) and then combing the whole site to see them "in use" and revising them a second time. (What do you think?)
Of course, the Accessibility Guidelines Work Document will also apply to/be a resource for the people re-writing the FAQs, so... useful all around.