Kibana: Improve Kibana Accessibility

[cjcenizal]

Phase 1: Initial review and issues

Immediate issues to resolve

Per functional area

• [x] Discovery
  
  
  
  • [x] Phase 1, 6.0: #12203
  
  
  • [x] Phase 2, 6.1: #13554
  
  
• [x] Visualizations
  
  
  
  • [x] Phase 1, 6.0: #12204
  
  
  • [x] Phase 2, 6.1: #13560
  
  
• [x] Sharing
  
  
  
  • [x] Phase 1, 6.0: #12205
  
  
• [x] Dev Tools
  
  
  
  • [x] Phase 2, 6.1: #12206
  
  
• [x] Management
  
  
  
  • [x] Phase 1, 6.0: #12207
  
  
  • [x] Phase 2, 6.1: #13556
  
  
• [x] Design
  
  
  
  • [x] Phase 1, 6.0: #12208
  
  
  • [x] Phase 2, 6.1: #13555
  
  

Global issues

These are general issues we need to address throughout Kibana.

• [x] Remove unnecessary ARIA https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11838
• [x] Create ARIA landmarks https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11839
• [x] Alternative text https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11520
• [x] Interactive elements https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11513
• [x] Headings https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11519
• [x] Input states https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11523
• [x] Keyboard focus https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11517
• [x] Autofocused elements https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11515
• [x] Expand/collapsed icons https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11514
• [x] Skip links https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11516
• [x] Associate form fields with labels https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11837
• [x] Tabs https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11841
• [x] Make tables accessible https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/12401

Phase 2: X-Pack review and longer term issues

• [ ] X-Pack accessibility in https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/18498
• [ ] ML https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/18278

Long-term issues

We can get to these once we have an acceptable baseline accessible experience.

Global issues

• [x] Make all UI Framework components accessible, #14080, https://github.com/elastic/eui/issues/614
• [x] Use proper page titles in all apps #11518

Visualizations

• [ ] Make charts screen-reader-accessible https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/11842
• [ ] Discussion: What to do with update / clear visualization buttons #12893

Testing / QA

• [x] Add automated accessibility testing #13758
• [x] Add eslint rules for accessibility #13835

Phase 3: Additional version review

• [x] 6.3 #18866

[nrichers]

A couple of related items I don't see on the list:

1. Product documentation: I just did a search on the spatial references “above,” “below”, “left,” and “right” in the Kibana docs and there are ~45 hits, many of which refer to the spatial placement of UI controls. That's a pretty standard accessibility gotcha, along with tables that have no header to explain what each column means. There are very likely other low-hanging fruit accessibility gotchas in the Kibana docs as well.

2. Error messages: Sooner or later, you will fall off the happy path and you're going to get either a transient or a full error message. Globally, our error messages often stand to be improved (a big handwaving claim if there ever was one--I can supply examples). There are some considerations around making error messages accessible, such as:

   • Clearly identifying the UI control that is causing the error in the text (and, again, not having things like spatial references in the messages themselves, for example)
   • Indicating how to resolve the error (an area our error messages often don't cover, differently abled user or not)
   • Testing to make sure error messages work in the screen reader

(If all of this has been covered, just ignore my comment. 😄 During CJ's intro, it seemed at least the doc stuff had not been considered, yet.)

[SeanFarrow]

I'd be interested in helping with this, as given we're looking to use this and as someone who has no sight it is essential that it is accessible. ARe there any issues that need immediate attention/what form of tests are you looking ot add?
Leave a comment

[timroes]

@SeanFarrow thanks for leaving a comment here. We are currently still in an early phase and doing the best to make the user interface accessible and prioritize our work. In the long term, we would at least like to add automated testing (see issue #13758) to catch some of the basic accessibility issues.

Since you said, that you are evaluating the usage of Kibana at the moment and you are a visually impaired user, we would appreciate it a lot, if you would find the time, to have a short chat with us. We could tell you more about our current state and plans and you could tell us about your use-case, your expectations and wishes, to help us prioritizing our current efforts. If you would be open to having a chat, could you contact us at [email protected] so we could arrange an online meeting (with the tool of your choice: Skype, Hangouts, or we can create a meeting using the video conference tool Zoom).

[myasonik]

Closing this meta ticket as it's no longer being actively tracked (though the individual issues that are still open are!).

Promoted @nrichers's comment to its own issue for better visibility: #55566