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Thread: Accessible WordPress?

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Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)

From: Mike Osborne - AccEase
Date: Tue, Mar 20 2007 6:40PM
Subject: Accessible WordPress?
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I'm looking to set up a blog using Word Press. I've TAWed some test pages and it looks OK.

Any accessibility gotchas or key things I should look out for with this blog software?

I'v checked out some "accessible" themes but they seem rather complex for what I want.

From: Jared Smith
Date: Tue, Mar 20 2007 10:00PM
Subject: Re: Accessible WordPress?
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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.).

It sounds like you're doing the right things - you're concerned about
accessibility, you're testing it, and you're seeking out ways to make
it better. Fortunately, Wordpress makes it quite easy to maintain that
accessibility.

Jared Smith
WebAIM.org

From: Emma Duke-Williams
Date: Wed, Mar 21 2007 2:10AM
Subject: Re: Accessible WordPress?
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On 3/21/07, Jared Smith < = EMAIL ADDRESS 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/

From: Penny Roberts
Date: Wed, Mar 21 2007 2:50AM
Subject: Re: Accessible WordPress?
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Emma Duke-Williams wrote:

> 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.

Just tried it in IE 7, it displays the same as Firefox: with the scroll
bar under the long lines.

Penny

From: Jared Smith
Date: Wed, Mar 21 2007 8:10AM
Subject: Re: Accessible WordPress?
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On 3/21/07, Emma Duke-Williams wrote:
> 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.

Silly Internet Explorer bugs! I forgot that IE6 has an inability to
properly overflow preformatted text. I have added a fix for this
(though now some other IE6 bug is showing up). It only affected the
code sections on the most recent blog entry. Thanks for the heads up.

Jared

From: Mike Osborne - AccEase
Date: Wed, Mar 21 2007 12:30PM
Subject: Re: Accessible WordPress?
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Thanks - very useful - and you've confirmed my suspicion that we should do
our own tailoring (theme customisation) for best control of accessibility.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jared Smith" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessible WordPress?


> 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.).
>
> It sounds like you're doing the right things - you're concerned about
> accessibility, you're testing it, and you're seeking out ways to make
> it better. Fortunately, Wordpress makes it quite easy to maintain that
> accessibility.
>
> Jared Smith
> WebAIM.org
>