Re: Getting involved in Mozilla effort [Re: An introduction to XML User Interface Language (XUL)]
- From: james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:28:15 -0400
Hi Arron,
This is great stuff. I would like to see the listers, including myself,
helping shape our own destiny and that of the other people with
disabilities we influence and be part of the solution to the issues we
complain about. I better stop before I get up onto my soapbox.
Jim
James D Homme, , Usability Engineering, Highmark Inc.,
james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx, 412-544-1810
"It's more important for me to start to do the right thing than it is to
wait until I think I
can do it just right."
"Aaron Leventhal"
<aaronlev@moonset
.net> To
Sent by: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
programmingblind- cc
bounce@freelists.
org Subject
Getting involved in Mozilla effort
[Re: An introduction to XML User
10/25/2007 10:01 Interface Language (XUL)]
AM
Please respond to
programmingblind@
freelists.org
There are tons of ways to get involved in Mozilla which don't involve
actually coding in the large Mozilla C++ codebase. I hope by providing a
list of a lot of possibilities I don't scare people off :)
1. Make Mozilla work better in open source screen readers (these tend to
be written in Python)
2. File bugs or help us track down the causes of bugs in Mozilla or
screen reader support for Mozilla (either open source or proprietary
screen readers). Help us evangelize the importance of fixing Mozilla
bugs to proprietary screen reader vendors.
3. Play with the technologies (e.g. ARIA, XUL, Dojo etc.) and provide
feedback, or write a tutorial on developing accessible applications
using Mozilla technologies. Help us evangelize ARIA so that we get more
industry adoption.
4. Help add ARIA support to a budding open source Javascript toolkit
like JQuery, GWT, YUI, Scriptaculous, Prototype, etc. Or help fix bugs
in Dojo's ARIA support
5. Develop a Firefox extension that helps end users with disabilities,
or with accessibility testing, or help fix accessibility issues in
existing Firefox extensions so more people can use them (the extensions
are written in XUL + Javascript)
6. Develop an accessibility validation testing tool for ARIA or XUL (or
preferably add support to an existing tool such as Firebug or DOM
Inspector)
7. Help us developer end-user documentation for accessibility (for the
help system or the website)
8. If you're really brave, you can help us look into MathML or SVG
accessibility -- that would require an API design sense, cross-platform
API knowledge and a willingness to work with the entire community
(standards, open source AT and proprietary) to reach a consensus. We
also need to implement it, so C++ developers who are not scared of the
Mozilla codebase are welcome -- but that's definitely not for the faint
of hear.
9. Help us implement accessibility for OS X, or fix existing
accessibility bugs in our IAccessible2 or ATK support
I could go on :) The sky is the limit, and often the best contributions
come from people that want to "scratch their own itch" and do things we
haven't even thought of. We're a very open community.
10. Help developers on our newsgroup or IRC channel with questions about
good accessibility behavior -- e.g. help the grantee working on
Chatzilla accessibility by testing and providing ideas.
This community accessibility work continues to be extremely fun,
interesting and challenging. I do hope someday to see more end users
actually join our community and benefit from the work or participate in
these projects which benefit everyone.
In the past there was at least one talented blind developer who tried to
get deep in the Mozilla project right away, but didn't get the support
they needed to get started. This is why I've added a lot of starter and
intermediate projects to the list above. I think it's often better to
get started by dipping your toe in, and just using/testing/document the
technologies rather than trying to fix bugs in the core.
If we see a community volunteer that is doing good work, who wants to do
more but needs to be paid for their time and expertise, the Mozilla
Foundation have been known to provide grants to allow them to continue
work in open source accessibility. In my opinion, the Mozilla Foundation
is quite visionary in the willingness to support the community in this
way, and deserves to be commended. As much as possible I'll continue to
facilitate using this program to bring talent to bear on a11y problems
which benefit the entire community.
- Aaron
james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Hi Arron,
> In what capacities can people get involved. Speaking for myself, I am a
> good HTML person. I can do CSS if I have a reference in front of me. I
can
> do scripting with a reference in front of me. I can definitely document.
I
> can test and give clear feedback. Just ask Jamal. I give him good
feedback
> most of the time.
>
> Jim
>
> James D Homme, , Usability Engineering, Highmark Inc.,
> james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx, 412-544-1810
>
> "It's more important for me to start to do the right thing than it is to
> wait until I think I
> can do it just right."
>
>
>
>
>
> "Aaron Leventhal"
> <aaronlev@moonset
> .net>
To
> Sent by: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> programmingblind-
cc
> bounce@freelists.
> org
Subject
> Re: An introduction to XML User
> Interface Language (XUL)
> 10/24/2007 10:56
> AM
>
>
> Please respond to
> programmingblind@
> freelists.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I know of at least one screen reader user who's been able to fix bugs in
> Firefox's UI using XUL.
>
> You may be interested in the XUL accessibility guidelines:
> http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/XUL_accessibility_guidelines
>
> Because XUL is declarative it makes it easier to arrange and debug and
> UI, and also makes it possible to write a validator that checks
> accessibility. Work started on those projects (from WebAIM), but it's
> currently stalled. We'd love to see that kind of work keep going.
>
> - Aaron
>
> james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> I don't know how useful this would be, but I got a link to it and
thought
>> someone might want to read it.
>>
>>
>>
>
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/x-dw-x-xulintro.html?S_TACT=105AGX54&S_CMP=A1018&ca=dnw-840
>
>
>> Jim
>>
>> James D Homme, , Usability Engineering, Highmark Inc.,
>> james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx, 412-544-1810
>>
>> "It's more important for me to start to do the right thing than it is to
>> wait until I think I
>> can do it just right."
>>
>>
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