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David A. Kennedy

Member Since: January 28th, 2011
Reston, Va.
davidakennedy.com
Theminator at Automattic
@davidakennedy on Slack

Accessibility Team
Core Contributor
Theme Developer
Theme Review Team
WordCamp Speaker

About Me
Activity
Themes
Favorites

Bio/Description

I work as a Theminator (that’s my official title) at the ever-awesome Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com and many other fine web products. I wrangle themes for WordPress.com, making them the best they can be and ensuring everyone can find a theme they love. I’m an accessibility evangelist who loves the open web and open source code. I contribute to the WordPress Accessibility Team and the Underscores Theme.

Interests

Writing
Open Source Projects
Clean Code
Video Games
Not Giving Up

WordPress Origin Story

To me, WordPress empowers anyone to tell their story. I’m amazed I didn’t discover it sooner.

I first started using WordPress somewhere between versions 2.6 and 2.7. As a former journalist and copywriter at the time, I loved (and still love) writing. So I started a blog on Blogger and typed away. In the process of learning how to customize it, I wanted to do more, learn more and maybe even dive into a full time career on the web. I found WordPress, recommended to me by my wife who works on the web and loves WordPress too.

I installed it, downloaded a few themes and tinkered. I made more ugly sites for myself than I care to admit, but I learned a lot along the way. By the time I decided to go to grad school to make the jump into a career on the web, I knew WordPress well, and even built two themes as my final project before graduating in 2010.

Today, I work with WordPress every day as a front end developer. I contribute to Underscores and help out on the WordPress Accessibility team.

More on my WordPress origin story…

Confirmed as a speaker for WordCamp US 2015 coming up on December 4th

3 weeks ago
Wrote a new post, Testing Twenty Sixteen, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
By now, I'm sure you've noticed Twenty Sixteen has been released on Github and the…

2 months ago
Closed ticket #31386, in Core Trac:
Add `target="_blank"` to WordPress.org links in dashboard.

4 months ago
Closed ticket #31363, in Core Trac:
Codex link in dashboard should open in a new tab like the others

4 months ago
Created a new ticket, #33218, in Core Trac:
Customizer: Does Not Read the Default wp_page_menu fallback_cb for ...

4 months ago
Created a new ticket, #24771, in Themes Trac:
THEME: Accessible Zen – 1.1.6

7 months ago
Created a new ticket, #32232, in Core Trac:
Twenty Twelve: Skip Link Does Not Appear on :focus

7 months ago
Created a new ticket, #32231, in Core Trac:
Twenty Eleven: Skip Link Does Not Appear on :focus

7 months ago
Created a new ticket, #24270, in Themes Trac:
THEME: Accessible Zen – 1.1.4

8 months ago
Wrote a new post, Accessible Theme Pattern Library Update for March, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
Another month has passed, and work on the Accessibility Theme Pattern has chugged along. What's…

8 months ago
Wrote a new post, Accessibility Team Update: Week of March 2, 2015, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
This week, the team covered a range of topics, mostly giving each other updates on…

9 months ago
Created a new ticket, #31527, in Core Trac:
Twenty Fifteen: Add ARIA attributes to menu toggle

9 months ago
Created a new ticket, #30305, in Core Trac:
Twenty Fifteen: Simplify Code for h1 on Blog Index Page when Front Page is ...

1 year ago
Created a new ticket, #30178, in Core Trac:
Twenty Thirteen: Replaces ellipses with ellipses and a Continue reading ...

1 year ago
Created a new ticket, #30176, in Core Trac:
Twenty Fourteen: Replaces ellipses with ellipses and a Continue reading ...

1 year ago
Created a new ticket, #30135, in Core Trac:
Twenty Fifteen: Replaces ellipses with a Continue reading link.

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post Accessibility testing of the Twenty Fifteen theme, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
I've filed a ticket for the Menu issue: Ticket #30083. cc: @rianrietveld @bramd

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post Accessibility testing of the Twenty Fifteen theme, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
I added the tickets assigned to me, along with some patches. Heading structure: Ticket by…

1 year ago
Created a topic, Super Useful, Super Simple, Easy to Configure, on the site WordPress Support Forums

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post Time to Test Twenty Fifteen!, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
Hey Bram, Thanks for your thoughts! How would that be different than having the navigation…

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post Time to Test Twenty Fifteen!, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
That's a good point Sharon, but there is an option in the Customizer that allows…

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post Time to Test Twenty Fifteen!, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
Welcome @nsousa! I've updated the post with some instructions on how to get Twenty Fifteen.…

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post Time to Test Twenty Fifteen!, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
Great idea, Rian! It would be great if people tested before then and came to…

1 year ago
Wrote a new post, Time to Test Twenty Fifteen!, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
Today, Twenty Fifteen landed in /trunk. @iamtakashi and others have worked really hard to make…

1 year ago
Wrote a new post, Accessibility Team Update: October 8, 2014, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
Here's our team update for the week: We're continuing our weekly testing meeting. Be sure…

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post Twenty Fifteen, on the site Make WordPress Core:
Looks awesome! Ping me as well. I'll contribute whatever code I can as well as…

1 year ago
David A. Kennedy’s profile was updated

1 year ago
Posted a reply to "4.0 RC 1: Plugin Info Modal Close Button Does Not Announce for Screen Readers", on the site WordPress Support Forums:
Thanks, Mika! That's super helpful to know. Most of the testing and Trac-ing I've done…

1 year ago
Posted a reply to "4.0 RC 1: Plugin Info Modal Close Button Does Not Announce for Screen Readers", on the site WordPress Support Forums:
Done! https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/29455 Sorry about that, I wasn't thinking and thought this is where you all…

1 year ago
Created a topic, 4.0 RC 1: Plugin Info Modal Close Button Does Not Announce for Screen Readers, on the site WordPress Support Forums

1 year ago
Wrote a new post, WordPress 4.0 Release Candidate Testing, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
The first release candidate for WordPress 4.0 is out. If you're interested in testing for…

1 year ago
Posted a reply to "Sight-disabilty backend issues - request for help", on the site WordPress Support Forums:
Hey there! Thanks for the suggestion! I'm a member of the WordPress Accessibility Team, so…

1 year ago
Created a new ticket, #19580, in Themes Trac:
THEME: Accessible Zen - 1.1.3

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post Accessibility Team Update: June 18, 2014, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
As I've said in our previous team meetings, I'm in favor of a suitable baseline…

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post More WCSF/Team Meetup Planning, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
Howdy @jenmylo! Thanks for reaching out. My current schedule isn't looking good for making it,…

1 year ago
Created a new ticket, #19394, in Themes Trac:
THEME: Accessible Zen - 1.1.2

1 year ago
Created a new ticket, #19353, in Themes Trac:
THEME: Accessible Zen - 1.1.1

1 year ago
Wrote a comment on the post WordPress needs automated accessibility testing, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
Hi Matthieu, Thanks for your comment and for filling us in about Tanaguru. It definitely…

2 years ago
Wrote a comment on the post WordPress needs automated accessibility testing, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
Integrating into the existing testing flow is a high priority, probably only below selecting a…

2 years ago
Wrote a new post, WordPress needs automated accessibility testing, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
The Make WordPress Accessibility Team needs help wrapping its arms around WordPress Core as new…

2 years ago
Created a topic, Simple, Useful and Easy-to-Use Plugin, on the site WordPress Support Forums

2 years ago
David A. Kennedy’s profile was updated

2 years ago
Wrote a comment on the post WordCamp Websites and Accessibility, on the site Make WordPress Accessible:
@andreamiddleton That's great! And we're glad to help! To supplement what Joe mentioned above, check…

2 years ago
Confirmed as a speaker for WordCamp Lancaster PA 2014 coming up on March 1st

2 years ago
Created a new ticket, #16004, in Themes Trac:
THEME: Accessible Zen - 1.1

2 years ago
Created a topic, Does the Theme Customizer Save Default Options?, on the site WordPress Support Forums

2 years ago
Posted a reply to "Image gallery customization", on the site WordPress Support Forums:
Jetpack is definitely a big plugin, and some things aren't enabled by default, or very…

2 years ago
Posted a reply to "child theme problems when moving menu below header", on the site WordPress Support Forums:
Hi there, Your header.php file should look like this sample, if I'm understanding you correctly.…

2 years ago
Posted a reply to "Image gallery customization", on the site WordPress Support Forums:
Hey! You might want to check out the Jetpack plugin. It does what you're looking…

2 years ago
Created a new ticket, #14937, in Themes Trac:
THEME: Accessible Zen - 1.0.3

2 years ago

Accessible Zen

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