Expand isn't accessible

[Greta Harding]

I used the macro "expand" to organize a page, but my keyboard dependent colleague cannot open the expand using a keyboard. In fact, it won't even focus with a keyboard. Can you all update the code to be accessible? Or provide us with an accessible accordion solution?

[Shannon S · Accepted solution]

Hi Greta,

It's not currently possible, unfortunately, but we do have a few feature requests for it:

We have a feature request to expand all expand macros on page load:

• CONFSERVER-27077 Option to display expand macro expanded/collapsed on page load

Additionally, we have a request to fix accessibility issues in the current expand macro:

• CONFSERVER-55725 Accessibility fixes for confluence-expand-macro bundled plugin

Please vote on both and comment with your usage case.

Thank you!

Regards,
Shannon

[Sharon Helms]

Does Atlassian have anyone who is focusing on ensuring its products are accessible? (Ideally, *everyone* focuses on accessibility, but having at least one champion would be a start.)

Accessibility is not a "nice to have" for many of the organizations using your products -- it is a requirement. It does not seem like a priority for Atlassian.. indeed, it feels like it is not part of development discussions at all.

The first feature request you referenced above is over six years old. Related requests are as much as 10 years old: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-12383

Thank you to Atlassian for making products that some of us love to use! We just wish *everyone* could use them!

[Shannon S]

Hi Sharon,

Thank you for mentioning this.

I spoke to the team, and the Server developers are currently doing an audit of accessibility across all products. The outcome of this will help us to look into our roadmap and prioritize issues such as these.

I just wanted to let you know that we indeed are looking to build in accessibility as part of our QA process.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Regards,

Shannon

[Sharon Helms]

Thank you, Shannon! This is wonderful news.

[Harmony Hames]

Checking in on this.  This was requested in 2018 as a critical accessibility failing, it still does not work via keyboard.  

We are on 7.13.0, so apologies in advance if this has been fixed since then - I didn't see any callouts in the recent release notes.  

Accessibility issues shouldn't be lumped in along with feature requests - they're about basic civil rights and denying certain groups of people access.

If doing the right thing isn't a motivator, you can pass on to the folks who prioritize issues that this is a lawsuit in the making.  For reference, the violation is WCAG 2.1.1 - Keyboard. 

All functionality of the content is operable through a keyboard interface without requiring specific timings for individual keystrokes, except where the underlying function requires input that depends on the path of the user's movement and not just the endpoints.

Please take the time to understand why this is important, the linked understanding document explains a lot.