Accessibility Issues with the LoCo Directory and Ubuntu Website

[Penelope Stowe]

Hiya,

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

I've been talking to the developers of the LoCo Directory and the
Ubuntu Website and they're very frustrated with the bugs and
complaints about accessibility on the website, not because they don't
want to do anything, but because they are not in charge of design
issues, that is something the design team should be addressing and the
design team is not subscribed to the LoCo Directory and Ubuntu Website
bugs.

Several things have come out of this conversation:

1) I've agreed to ask the accessibility team to stop filing bugs
directly against the LoCo Directory and Ubuntu Website since it's not
helping anything and just causing more frustration.

2) Michael Hall has created
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-website/light-a11y-theme as a place for
accessibility related website/LoCo directory bugs to be logged. I hope
and encourage the design team members who focus on the website design
to subscribe to these bugs.

3) The other option is to use the Ayatana mailing list or e-mail the
design team members directly, however, do remember to be polite and
not overload the list or team. I would like to have one person on the
accessibility team who is a point-of-contact for website issues to
avoid mailbox flooding. I'd like volunteers, however, I think it would
be best if the volunteer were to be in the UK or in a time zone close
to GMT so that they have a better chance of being able to interact
with the design team in real time if necessarily.

4) It's brought up a clear need for some communication with the design
team on how to get the guidelines for website design to fit in with
accessibility needs, since they so clearly don't at the moment. I know
this makes it a complicated and long process, however, I think it's
the best plan to get this issue fixed in the long term. Otherwise, the
same discussions will come up on every bit of the Ubuntu website every
time something changes and just be more and more frustrating for
everyone.

Please also remember in this process that the design team is made up
of human beings. They are largely only available during work hours in
the UK Monday-Friday so do not get impatient if there is no answer to
your e-mails on weekends or evenings. They have a lot of work to do
and we are only one part of that.

I hope this can lead to some progress on the issues with the website
as it is important for people's first impressions of accessibility in
Ubuntu (since if they can't access the website, why would they think
they could use the operating system?) and because it is very obviously
an area that is causing a lot of frustration.

Thanks,
Penelope