WordPress is a CMS that now powers over 20% of the world's websites. But how easy is it to create an accessible website using WordPress? What is there to help you, and what are the pitfalls? And if you want to help make WordPress more accessible, there's a team of volunteers who would love to talk to you. Come and join in at: https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/get-involved-1/ This slide deck formed the basis of a round table discussion that I chaired at eAccess15 in London on 24th March 2015.

1. Coolfields Consulting www.coolfields.co.uk
@coolfields
Can WordPress help make
the web more
accessible?
Graham Armfield
Web Accessibility Consultant
WordPress Developer
graham.armfield@coolfields.co.uk
@coolfields

2. Introductions
• What is your name?
• Who do you work for?
• Your knowledge/use of WordPress?
• What you'd like to learn or take away from
this session?
2

3. What I’m going to cover
• What is WordPress?
• How WordPress Works
• Creating accessible websites with
WordPress
• Accessibility and the Admin screens
• Want to get involved?
3

4. 4
What is WordPress?

5. What is WordPress?
Created in 2003 as a blogging tool.
Extra features added over years, so the
possibilities are now almost endless.
5

6. More Features
WordPress can now support many types of
website. For example:
6
• consumer review sites
• job boards
• membership sites (inc
with subscription)
• business websites
• community portals
• e-commerce websites
• classified ads

7. Increasingly the World's Choice
You can allow others to contribute content to your site.
7

8. Increasingly the World's Choice
WordPress now 'powers' over 20% of all websites
8
from builtwith.com

9. Two types of WordPress
• WordPress.com
• WordPress.org
Who has used either?
9

10. 10
How WordPress Works
Core
Themes
Plugins

11. WordPress is a CMS
All content is stored in a
database…
… not in separate HTML files.
Which makes things very flexible.
11

12. WordPress Core
12
The WordPress core is what makes the site go
from prewarminor.com

13. WordPress Themes
Themes govern the look of a WordPress website
13
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolymatt/

14. WordPress Plugins
Plugins are your optional extras
14
https://www.flickr.com/photos/etheltheaardvark/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/

15. The Whole Picture
15
http://mysite.com/about-us

16. 16
Creating accessible
websites with WordPress

17. WordPress themes
17
https://www.flickr.com/photos/woolymatt/

18. WordPress Themes
• Only ever 1 theme active at any time
• Handles overall layout of site and styles –
HTML, CSS, javascript
• So has a significant impact on site
accessibility
18

19. Choosing a Theme
Who has been involved in choosing a theme
or specifying the design of a WordPress
website?
19

20. Choosing a Theme
For wordpress.org version
• Free themes -
http://wordpress.org/themes/
• Premium themes -
http://wordpress.org/themes/commercial/
For wordpress.com version
• Integrated into admin area
20

21. 'Accessibility-ready' Themes
• Currently an extra optional review for
accessibility
• Hopefully will become mandatory at
some point in the future
21

22. How Many Accessible Themes?
22
3,048 themes in repository (as
at 23rd February 2015)
9 results for 'accessibility'
and
13 results for 'accessible'
and
32 have 'accessibility-ready' tag

23. WordPress Plugins
• A site can (in theory) have any number of
plugins active at any time
• Plugins are available for many different
needs:
Improve SEO, site security, spam prevention,
social media, forums, handling images
23

24. Choosing Plugins
For wordpress.org version
• http://wordpress.org/plugins/
For wordpress.com version
• Very limited but integrated into admin
24

25. WordPress Plugins
• Some plugins can affect the HTML and
functionality of the site
• So plugins can have a significant impact
on accessibility
• There is currently no accessibility review
for plugins
25

26. 26
Accessibility Pitfalls in WordPress
Themes and Plugins

27. Typical Theme Accessibility Issues
• Keyboard accessibility – dropdown menus,
visible focus, etc
• Heading structure
• Colour contrast
• 'Read more' links
• Sensible tab order
• No skip links
27

28. Slider/carousel plugin example
28
Can I stop the
slider using the
keyboard?
Can I attach
alternate text to
the images?
Buttons or
links?
And do they
label their
purpose?

29. Lightbox plugin example
29
Can I attach
alternate text to
the large images?
When lightbox
opens, focus
remains on
page below

30. Form plugin example
30
Do screen reader
users get to hear these
error messages?
Are these labels
linked to input
fields?

31. Plugins Can Help Too
WP Accessibility plugin
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-accessibility/
31

32. Getting a Developer Involved
• To design and build a theme for you
• To create extra functionality as required
• Build, install and configure more advanced
plugins
• Tailor the site to your needs
32

33. Getting a Developer Involved
• Who has worked with developers to build
an accessible website?
• What was that like?
33

34. Content Authors
34

35. Content Authors
• Can add headings, images, lists, etc – or
choose not to do so
• So can have an impact on accessibility
35

36. 36
Accessibility and the
Admin Screens

37. A Cornucopia of Screens
• Admin functions built and added to over
many years
• Accessibility has almost never been
considered upfront until recently
• So patchy accessibility – but improving
37

38. Adding Images
38

39. 39
Want to help make WordPress
more accessible?

40. How WordPress Changes
• Open source nature means that anyone
can contribute to development
• WordPress adds new admin functionality
with every release
• Existing functionality changes as a result
of defect reports
40

41. Make WordPress Accessible Team
41

42. Get Involved with WP Accessibility
• Commenting on design of new
functionality in admin screens
• Helping to test new and existing
functionality in admin screens with AT
• Get involved with accessibility reviews for
new themes
• Helping with accessibility resources and
examples for WordPress developers
42

43. Where to Find Us
https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/
Anyone interested?
43

44. Thanks for listening
graham.armfield@coolfields.co.uk
@coolfields