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Re: Accessible WordPress?

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From: Emma Duke-Williams
Date: Mar 21, 2007 2:10AM

On 3/21/07, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> On 3/20/07, Mike Osborne - AccEase wrote:
> > I'm looking to set up a blog using Word Press.
> > Any accessibility gotchas or key things I should look out for with this blog software?
>
> Wordpress is quite accessible out of the box. We've been quite happy
> with it for our blog - http://webaim.org/blog/ If you're at least a
> bit comfortable with PHP, it's relatively easy to incorporate into
> your own site without the need for themes. This gives you the most
> control over the accessibility of it. In short, Wordpress itself is
> very accessible - it's the implementations of Wordpress in various
> themes and plugins that introduce accessibility issues.
>
> The admin interface does have a few issues. It can be fairly complex
> and the authoring toolbar isn't fully accessible. It also does not
> enforce accessibility (e.g., you can add images without alt text, use
> big text instead of headers, etc.).

The only problem that I've had getting a WordPress blog (using 2.0.9,
as our server doesn't have the latest version of php on it yet),
validated was the search box, as it kept telling me it didn't have a
label.
My main concern, though, is me! I'm sure that when I write, it's not
at all clear for someone who doesn't have good English and/ or is
dyslexic. Having just now started putting images in, I think that
maybe I ought to add a few more of them - again, it's much clearer for
those that don't like reading.

Jared - I've just had a look at your blog: I found the way that IE 6
(can't update to 7 on this PC) and Firefox differently handle the long
lines interesting.
IE 6 ensures that the whole line is showing, so you have got the
template not lining up correctly at the top, whereas Firefox lines the
template up correctly, but adds a scroll bar under the sections that
have the longer lines.

Emma
--
Blog: http://www.tech.port.ac.uk/staffweb/duke-wie/blog/