Wanting to contribute to 1. updating JavaFX Developers Guide, 2. JavaFX Accessibility Development and Documentation

[Nir Lisker]

Hi Glen,

1. Latest JavaFX Official Developers Documentation / Guide
>

This has been reported, but no update is planned. See [1].
They are not part of the OpenJFX codebase so there's no easy way for us to
update them.
That's all I know.

- Nir

[1] https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8210360

On Tue, Apr 9, 2019 at 11:10 PM Glen & Nicci Johnson <nicciglen at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hello OpenJFX Community
>
> I’ve just rejoined the OpenJFX community with a desire to contribute
> to its current path of development (documentation and code). Just a
> quick introduction. I’m an experienced Software Developer who has been
> using Java consistently since the 90s. As I have an interest in areas
> like User Interface development and computer graphics, I’ve followed
> the evolution of JavaFX over the last decade. I am passionate about
> Digital Accessibility design and development, and am good (so I’m
> told) at Technical Writing. This leads me to ask two questions:
>
> 1. Latest JavaFX Official Developers Documentation / Guide
>
> Since Java 8, and the changes to the release schedule following Java
> 9, the (official) JavaFX Developers Documentation does not appear to
> have been maintained / updated. The last available version dates back
> to Java 8.
>
> This appears to have created confusion for some developers wanting to
> get deeper into developing with more recent releases of JavaFX e.g.
> ver. 11 or 12. I’m aware there is a short “Getting Started with
> JavaFX” guide. However, people who don’t already have a deep
> understanding of the inner workings of JavaFX may need a lot more than
> this quick introduction and the JavaDoc API to guide them. [1].
>
> I know there are a fair number of good JavaFX books and also various
> useful tutorials sprinkled over the web, but I think it would be good
> to get the official JavaFX Developer Documentation updated and
> available for more recent releases. I would like to help with this if
> possible please.
>
> What’s the best way to contribute to bringing the JavaFX developer
> documentation up to date with JavaFX 11 and 12? Is there already a
> public facing repository that holds the Oracle JavaFX developer docs
> source text that others (such as myself) can contribute towards to
> expand, update and improve? Are the Oracle JavaFX 8 developer docs
> licensed under Open Source, or would I / we have to start writing an
> official developer guide from scratch?
>
> 2. JavaFX Accessibility Developer and User Guides
>
> About 5 years ago, when Peter Korn was still part of the Java team at
> Oracle as Accessibility Principle, there was a fair amount of
> development effort and investment into making JavaFX accessible. Since
> Peter’s departure to Amazon, I can see from the OpenJFX repository
> that bug fixes and improvements relating to the JavaFX Accessibility
> API have continued to some extent. However, the impetus behind Java
> Accessibility seems to have waned in recent years. There are indeed a
> few JavaFX accessibility tutorials scattered across the web and the
> OpenJFX WIKI (on java.net) has a few brief (and much outdated) pages
> pertaining to Accessibility development [2]. However, there doesn’t
> seem to be an up to date and official JavaFX Accessibility Development
> and User Guide available for versions 11 and 12. If I’ve missed it,
> please let me know where I can find it.
>
> In recent years, the priority given to Digital Accessibility has risen
> significantly as businesses have realised it’s revenue earning
> potential. Furthermore, in many countries around the world it is now
> illegal for a website or app to be inaccessible to those with
> disabilities (in the public sector at least) [3]. For JavaFX to be a
> good contender in this respect, especially to be highly regarded in
> general by accessibility designer and developer communities, I think
> it would be beneficial for more prominence to be given to making sure
> the JavaFX accessibility APIs and tools continue to be in excellent
> shape and receive all the due diligence that this endeavour needs. Of
> course, these efforts also need to include creating and maintaining a
> comprehensive Java FX Accessibility Guide for Developers and Users. Is
> Gluon perhaps already contributing to efforts in this area? Are there
> ways in which I can contribute towards these?
>
> Looking forward to getting feedback from the community on these points.
>
> [1] <
> https://www.reddit.com/r/java/comments/auczwq/official_javafx_11_documentation/
> >
> [2] <https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/OpenJFX/Controls+Accessibility
> >,
> <https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/OpenJFX/Accessibility+Exploration>
> [3] <https://www.w3.org/WAI/policies/>
>
> Best regards
>
> Glen Johnson
>
> LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenjohnsonsofteng/
>