Presentation on Wordpress and Accessibility from WordCamp Ottawa 2019

1. WordPress & Accessibility
Keeping It Pretty While Being Accessible!
&

2. Who Is This Amy
Person?
• Independent Author
• Born Legally blind in one eye
• Also suffers from amblyopia
• Interest in UI/UX & how Psychology
relates to that.
• Customer Support @ Alternative
Hosting

3. Accessibility Basics
• What is WCAG 2.1?
• WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• Internationally established set of guidelines for accessible content on the Internet. These guidelines are
mainly for people with various disabilities.
• For each guideline, there are testable success criteria, which are at three levels: A, AA, and AAA.
• A (lowest), AA (mid range), and AAA (highest)
• Each level indicates that it meets the prior level’s requirements as well.
• Why are they so important?
• Consistent experience for people with disabilities.

4. Accessibility & WordPress
• Gutenberg and Accessibility
• Still ongoing work being done on it
• Initial findings were that it was not very accessible.
• At this time, if you need an accessible editor, best to stick with the
older editor.

5. Accessibility & WordPress
“Accessibility is a lot of work!”
• Simple things you can do:
• Write good captions for images!
• When you insert an image into a post or page, consider providing a rich description for the caption that will
improve the reading experience for everyone, but especially folks who can’t see the image. Be creative.
Instead of “My child on their swing,” try “My child is playing on their favourite swing. Their face is filled with
pure joy on a beautiful Spring day. Perfection.”
• The goal here is to convey the feeling of the image.
• Clearly describe links!
• Whether you are linking to your own blog or another site, it helps to be descriptive in the linked text. For
example, “Click here” is not as explanatory as “Contact me.”

6. Use an Accessibility Ready Theme
WordPress.org has an accessibility ready switch in the search.

7. Plugins
• There are a few plugins that can help. As always, make
sure that they’re still updated and maintained.
• A Plugin that has been abandoned may not work with
your site or future updates.
• May also not support either 508 (US) or WCAG (Int’l)
current standards.
• WP Accessibility
• Currently Maintained
• Helpful to all levels of ability.
• I use it myself - after trying many plugins
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-accessibility/

8. Many Plugins are available
Find one or more that help your setup.
http://bit.ly/2XDXYwn - List of “top” plugins

9. https://www.amymyoung.com
@amymyoung
@amymyoung
@amymyoungwrites
tumblr.com/amymyoung
https://www.atlernativehosting.ca https://www.atlernativehosting.ca
Where You Can Find Me