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Happy Open Source: My first contribution to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

I raised an issue in the WCAG Repository. It was accepted as valid in two days and then fixed in the code base within a week. This is pretty darn good considering the scale and consensus nature of many of the topics within the repository which are years long strategy issues for the roadmap kind of thing.

Basically, I found the low-hanging fruit and I grabbed it!

I had something to offer

In the course of working on Guideline-journey.com I had traversed and inspected a great deal of the JSON published by WCAG of the guidelines. I am still working through issues in my own app. I was sure others have taken a look at the JSON but it is relatively recently published so possibly I was the first to consider raising an issue I found.

I noticed as I worked through the app using an extension called Headings Map, that I have previously raved about as a simple tool, that there were some level 5 headings out of order. These were highlighted in the app by Headings Map.

A screenshot of guideline-journey.com at its current state, with Headings Map pictured in the sidebar

The HTML when inspected had the following role and aria-level attribute:

<div role="heading" class="note-title marker" id="h-note-17" aria-level="5"><span>Note</span></div>

This meant to me that the heading was out of order, which is important sometimes for optimal assistive technology usage. Headings are often used to give structure and navigate the app. It might not break the experience but out of order headings can degrade the experience for sure.

I asked myself, was this really an issue?

  1. I confirmed that the aria-level attribute and heading role existed inside the JSON Data, unchanged from the source code of the project.

  2. I confirmed that this could be a valid issue, as it could affect assistive technology navigating websites made using the data

I made it human

The first paragraph of my GitHub issue was optional but explains my reasoning and how I came to find this issue at all, I was deep in the middle of making my own app with the data.

I wasn’t just complaining, I gave a motivating factor to go with my issue.

Then it happened!

It got acknowledged, put on the roadmap and then fixed and removed from the roadmap all in the course of about 9 days.

I feel like a peer and great to have contributed something.

Open Source works best with a broad base of input and support. Some politeness and story helps move things along sometimes too.