[NFB-Web] NFB Drupal 8 accessibility

Mon Nov 30 20:27:38 UTC 2020

Hi John,

Thanks for the email. I am not using Drupal 8 yet and I have not seem a lot of inaccessible stuff within Drupal. My following comments are probably due to ignorance of how to properly use the platform.

*	Would be nice to have a module to be  able to view a monthly calendar of events across the affiliate

*	A sub set of users that can add events to the calendar, like chapter and division presidents, committees,  or web master
*	Viewable by anyone regardless of device

*	Applying security patches and saving off customizations in case patches override those files
*	Having a Drupal group that cannot modify web pages, but can manage CIVICrN content (MD has been lucky to have 2 separate servers, but will not be the case under the national platform)
*	Setting up multiple navigation layers – Drupal is flexible to allow this, however if a menu item in the navigation is permanent, how do you update the content for that menu item without updating the same page? Each Drupal page has an option to be a menu item. Example is the NFBMD current newsletter (i.e. Braille Spectator).
*	Being able to upload any type of document to a page as an attachment. Could be a nfbnet.org ism, but updates to apache configuration files had to be done and never could get it to work for NFBMD properly.

These are some difficulties I have experienced.

These are my thoughts I have at this time. 

Hopefully it will be helpful.

Graham Mehl

blind at trailstone.com

NFB Central Maryland Chapter, President

NFB of Maryland Website and Technology Committee, Chair

LCB graduate, 2016

From: NFB-Web <nfb-web-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Berggren, John via NFB-Web
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2020 10:42 AM
To: NFB Webmaster's List <nfb-web at nfbnet.org>; 'NFB Net dot org web masters list' <nfbnet-webmasters at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Berggren, John <jberggren at nfb.org>
Subject: [NFB-Web] NFB Drupal 8 accessibility

Project Overview

The purpose of this project is to modernize and unify the NFB’s web presence across all of our affiliates and divisions. As you know, we reviewed our Federation brand in 2013-2014, which then led to our current branding standards. In late 2018, the national board approved a project to unify the web presence across the organization, and I announced this to affiliate presidents at the Washington Seminar in 2019. Also in early 2019, we completed a major redesign of the national website. As you know, our organizational technology plans were unexpectedly and drastically disrupted days after the launch of the new website. However, the Federation is strong and resilient, and we are back on course. We are now in the phase of bringing similar improvements to our affiliates and divisions that we have realized at the national level. This will involve bringing all sites under the same technology infrastructure and branding. At the same time, however, we understand that each of our affiliates and divisions have their own distinct personalities and goals. So to that end, we have provided for flexibility as well. Let me just take a moment to acknowledge Rachel Olivero who originally helped craft this concept with me. The relationships that Rachel built within the Drupal community are part of what makes it possible for us to undertake this today with enthusiasm and confidence.

To get the project rolling, we have solicited the expertise of a web development firm, Pumex. They have worked with us before. Over the past several months, our national staff, along with a stakeholder group of national leaders, has been working with the Pumex team to develop two design templates that you will be able to choose from. Within each template there are many options as far as layout and content. Additionally, both provide a small section that will automatically showcase national content.

Process 

As you can imagine, updating more than fifty websites is a huge undertaking. In order to ensure efficiency and quality, we will use a phased approach throughout 2021. There will be ten websites chosen for each phase, and we anticipate total project time for each website to be a few weeks. When your website is up next, you will receive an email from us with more specific instructions and more exact timing. 

I am confident that this project will make our organization stronger and more unified, and that it will help move our mission forward into 2021 and beyond. Thank you for your service and for working closely with the team as we improve our infrastructure support for affiliates. It is an honor to build this movement with you every day. I know that many of us are not web technology experts—me included—but we all recognize that the stronger, more unified, and more up-to-date our web presence is, the easier it will be to attract and engage the members we want and advance the messaging we need in the general public.

President Riccobono also asked for some preliminary details from our affiliate presidents. I, too, am hoping to get some preliminary info from some of you. For those who are Drupal users (and Drupal 8 in particular), what inaccessibilities about the routine backend operation of your website have frustrated and/or stymied you? As the president indicated in his email, Rachel established contacts in the Drupal community that will help us to provide feedback, address accessibility issues, and hopefully roll any fixes we create into core. We also want to address these issues in the training we provide during the process of affiliate website migration. Thanks for any experiences you would like to share.

Regards,

John

John Berggren

Executive Director, Operations

200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230

410-659-9314, extension 2329 | jberggren at nfb.org <mailto:jberggren at nfb.org>  

 <https://nfb.org/> 

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The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want. 

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