Re: Who is using WebKit in GNOME 2.28?

[Willie Walker <William Walker Sun COM>]

Hi Andre:

(resend since my other e-mail server seems to be having issues)

> > Distros that think that webkit a11y is not "good enough" in 2.28 are
> > free to ship older module versions that do not depend on webkit, or
> > (better) put additional manpower on fixing the remaining webkit a11y
> > issues.  ;-)

I hear you, but this seems to go against the idea that accessibility is
a core value of GNOME.

Until WebKit a11y is sufficient to provide access to the GNOME apps that
will use it, I think we need to stick with the accessible solution for
now.  In other words, I think we need to flip your statement above
around.  That is, the GNOME modules will ship with the proper accessible
solution as the default.

My stance is that it is not the accessibility team's role to make
everything accessible and fix all accessibility problems.  Instead,
accessible design should be a core value and skill of every developer,
much like i18n.  So, it really is the WebKit team's responsibility to
deliver an accessible solution.  Having said that, the cooperation
between Xan and Joanie has been wonderful and represents an excellent
example of how a core engineering team and the accessibility team can
work well together.

Having been in this space for about 20 years, I'm seeing a tipping point
happen where core developers are making a11y design considerations, with
GNOME being a shining positive example.  I hope we can continue with
this positive shift -- the decision to ship with a11y failing by default
would be a big blow.

Will