Re: WebKit release cycle and dependency request

[Willie Walker <William Walker Sun COM>]

> > Accessibility
> > =============
> >
> > In the last few weeks we've started to look at formal accessibility
> > support for document navigation and manipulation. The first WebCore
> > patches have landed and we intend to provide AT-SPI accessibility for
> > the 2.24 release. This is partly in response to requests from the
> > community and Yelp developers.
>
> So looking back at the previous discussion that happened on d-d-l,
> accessibility seems to be the only important blocker. Do you have any
> estimation of when this will be ready?
>
> Accessibility-knowledgeable people: is it fine to not have ARIA 
> support,
> or is it a requirement?

For a first pass, if WebKit were to provide AT-SPI equivalent to Gecko 
1.9 a11y sans ARIA support, I think it would be OK.  But, I would like 
to see plans and commitment to delivering ARIA at some point soon 
thereafter.  Another thing of great importance is to make sure WebKit 
provided compelling keyboard support for interacting with the content.  
This includes navigating the 'read only' content using normal means 
(e.g., arrowing, page up/down, etc.) as well as text selection and 
cut/copy/paste support.

Thanks for asking, and thanks for your proactive interest in 
accessibility.  :-)

Will