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Re: WordPress Accessibility

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From: Pamela Riesmeyer
Date: Aug 9, 2019 11:08PM

Having worked with WordPress for over 10 years on a university's website, I
observed that the biggest challenges to accessibility were the content
creators. When we trained people to create accessible content, our
WordPress sites were accessible, from the front end.

There are great advantages to database driven sites, over hand-coded static
HTML pages.

There are now a number of WordPress themes that result in accessible code.
Any theme is vulnerable, potentially, to hacking. Accessible themes are not
more likely to be hacked than any others.

I have been hoping that a member of the Make WordPress Accessible working
group would respond to this. I thought some of the members were on this
list. That group is doing great things to improve the accessibility of the
platform from the administrative side.
https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/

Pam



On Fri, Aug 9, 2019 at 8:43 PM Philip Kiff < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> I am more familiar with Drupal than WordPress, but I try to keep track
> of WordPress accessibility news.
>
> > 3. I hear some stories about WordPress introducing inaccessible
> editors
> > that might become a problem. Is that so, and, how can we avoid problems?
>
> WordPress version 5 introduced a new page editor called "Gutenberg" with
> a dramatically different interface and a significantly new "block" model
> for structuring page content. The new editor was less accessible than
> the previous "Classic" editor, though it added new capabilities for some
> users. However, the "Classic" editor can still be installed as a plugin
> to fully replace Gutenberg.
>
> While not perfect, my impression is that the Classic editor is
> considered passable in terms of accessibility and workarounds have been
> developed to deal with probably most of the inaccessible aspects of the
> interface.
>
> I have the impression that it is somewhat more difficult to ensure that
> WordPress outputs fully accessible HTML when your content editors use
> the Classic editor instead of the new Gutenberg editor.
>
> A professional, third-party accessibility audit of the new WordPress
> Gutenberg editor was completed by Tenon.io in May 2019, and it is
> publicly available:
> https://wpcampus.org/2019/05/gutenberg-audit-results/
>
> > 4. Are there reasons why we should just stick to html and not put
> > ourselves through the headache of WordPress?
> I personally believe that Drupal (!) may often be a better choice of CMS
> than WordPress for those organizations that place a high priority on
> accessibility principles. However, the choice of which CMS is best for
> you, or whether you should stay with raw HTML instead of moving to a CMS
> at all are complex questions that require a full understanding of your
> current content, your future plans, your budget, your staff training and
> structure, your publishing approval workflow, etc., so I'm afraid I'll
> have to leave that question up to you! ;-)
>
> Phil.
>
> Philip Kiff
> D4K Communications
>
>
> On 2019-08-07 15:09, Michael Bullis wrote:
> > My organization is contemplating whether to move our website from html to
> > WordPress for the reason that we would much more easily be able to update
> > information in real time.
> >
> > We absolutely cannot and do not wish to create anything that is less
> > accessible than we currently have.
> >
> > 1. Does anyone have advice on what we ought to consider prior to
> making
> > such a move?
> > 2. Are there consulting companies that really know the accessibility
> > themes in WordPress we should consider hiring in order to put a correct
> > foundation on our site?
> > 3. I hear some stories about WordPress introducing inaccessible
> editors
> > that might become a problem. Is that so, and, how can we avoid problems?
> >
> > And finally,
> >
> > 4. Are there reasons why we should just stick to html and not put
> > ourselves through the headache of WordPress?
> >
> > Thanks to all on this list. I am a lurker for many years and
> consistently
> > find this list delivers high value content.
> >
> > Michael Bullis
> > Executive Director,
> > The IMAGE Center of Maryland
> > Direct phone: 443-275-9394
> > Main-410-982-6311
> > Cell:443-286-9001
> > Email: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > Website:www.imagemd.org <http://www.imagemd.org>;
> > Address
> > 300 E. Joppa RD, Suite 312
> > Towson MD 21286
> >
> > > > >
--
Pamela Riesmeyer
Wings of Mercury
http://wingsofmercury.com
Phone: 219-730-2751
SKYPE: pamela.riesmeyer
<EMAIL REMOVED>