| # Accessibility Release Notes |
| |
| ## TL;DR |
| Any change to accessibility-related files requires specifying an **AX-Relnotes** |
| field within the commit message, which describes the user-impacts the change |
| will have. Please see below for some examples of what this could look like: |
| |
| * 'AX-Relnotes: ChromeVox now supports ...' |
| * 'AX-Relnotes: Fixed an issue where ... happened because of ...' |
| * 'AX-Relnotes: n/a', if the change has no user-facing effects. |
| |
| If your change has user-impact, but is behind a feature flag, please use ‘n/a’. |
| At the time you remove the feature flag, the AX-Relnotes should mention that the |
| feature is being launched. |
| |
| ## What Are Release Notes |
| Every release cycle, the Chrome & Chrome OS Accessibility Team compiles release |
| notes for users, which detail any user-facing changes that have been made in |
| the upcoming release. These help our users stay informed about the features |
| and bugs our team works on, and are utilized by multiple testing teams. |
| |
| ## The Release Notes Process |
| Release notes are a collaborative effort and usually involve two or three team |
| members who own the process. The process is as follows: |
| 1. One owner generates a list of commits for the release and pastes the output |
| in a shared Google Document. |
| 2. The commits are split evenly among the owners. |
| 3. Each owner parses their assigned commits, removing irrelevant information, |
| summarizing important content, contacting developers for clarification, and |
| categorizing commits with user-impact. |
| 4. Once all commits have been categorized or deleted, one owner forwards the |
| release notes to the team's PgMs. |
| 5. The PgMs take a final pass over the document, then forward it to relevant |
| stakeholders. |
| |
| ## Why AX-Relnotes |
| We require our developers to include an AX-Relnotes field in their commit |
| messages to make the release notes process more distributed and accurate. |
| Developers have the most context about how their changes affect users, and |
| having developers summarize their changes saves time and effort for the |
| release notes owners. |
| |
| ## Questions? |
| If you have any questions regarding accessibility release notes that have not |
| been answered in this document, please contact a member of |
| ui/accessibility/OWNERS. |