Plan a Fedora Accessibility Test Week with QA Team
Discussed in 2024-04-02 meeting.
Summary
Plan a Fedora Test Week for Accessibility in 2024.
Background
Some small, iterative changes are working their way into Fedora Linux 40, like the new accessibility stack package group created by @vojtapolasek. We want assurances on the basic functionality, but also more advanced feedback would be useful to collect.
Fedora has a long tradition of running Test Days to invite users to contribute to Fedora by testing features or changes that interest them. We want to do the same thing with accessibility as the target case. Some ideas of what could be tested:
- After launching the image, can the screen reader be started?
- Are shortcuts to activate a11y features documented?
- Navigate around the desktop after boot.
Following the tests, identify the environments were things are excellent or things that are poor. Then we can start to gauge a11y issues in our current releases and images. And then, we can start to improve them!
Details
What we need for a Test Day (see this draft guide on Fedora Wiki:
-
Docs: Common guidelines for setting up the a11y stack on Fedora Linux. -
Test cases: Document multiple test cases that can be repeated by volunteer testers. -
Time commitment: Budget developer time during the Test Week to answer user questions and respond to doubts from community members. -
Outreach: Promote the Test Day in traditional and non-traditional channels. Focus on targeting users who depend/rely on a11y tools. Invite them as contributors to our community test days.
Outcomes
- The Fedora QA Team receives feedback on accessibility features, which are then shared back to upstream developers.
- Users of accessibility tools on Linux are invited as contributors to the community, and successfully participate.
- Accessibility work receives greater visibility and awareness in the Fedora community.
- A stronger case is established for considering accessibility functionality as release-blocking test criteria.