Enhance the inclusivity of your WordPress website by incorporating accessibility plugins designed to cater to a diverse audience, including those with disabilities. Users with special needs, such as visual or hearing impairments, require specific features like screen readers, prominent call-to-action buttons, high-contrast color schemes, closed captions, and image alt attributes for an improved browsing experience. While manually implementing these accessibility features can be time-consuming, leveraging AI tools and plugins designed for WordPress allows for automated formatting based on the best accessibility practices. Discover the significance of WordPress accessibility plugins, their advantages, and explore trending options that provide robust support for accessible design on your website or blog.
What Are WordPress Accessibility Plugins?
To comprehend the role of WordPress accessibility plugins, it is essential to grasp the concept of website accessibility. Website accessibility ensures that all users, regardless of their abilities, can effectively consume content on a given portal. Content consumption involves activities such as navigating through pages, comprehending visual or written content, and participating in content creation.
A website is deemed accessible when individuals with cognitive, auditory, physical, neurological, visual, and speech disabilities can seamlessly consume its content. To guide website developers in adhering to standard accessibility practices, the W3 Web Accessibility Initiative has established an international policy known as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). This policy has various versions, including WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, and WCAG 2.2.
For those developing websites outside the WordPress platform, manual incorporation of the aforementioned web page accessibility design guidelines is necessary. However, within the WordPress content management system, automatic tools, commonly referred to as WordPress accessibility plugins, are available to format the website in alignment with international accessibility standards.
Importance of WordPress Accessibility Plugins?
Numerous stringent acts worldwide are in place to protect the rights of users with disabilities, ensuring seamless access to information technology-based services and products. For instance, the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design mandates ADA compliance for public-facing IT services, including smartphones and websites.
The EU’s Web Accessibility Directive also enforces the necessity for mobile apps and website developers to create products that adhere to accessibility standards. Thus, the key advantage of employing accessibility plugins is to align with these digital content regulations and guidelines. Additionally, there are other crucial benefits such as:
Website Reputation
Enhancing the accessibility ratings of your website significantly boosts your online reputation. Users perceive your business or company as inclusive, making them more inclined to choose your website over others that do not adhere to accessibility standards.
Increase Audience
Ensuring website accessibility for users with disabilities broadens your web traffic to include all segments of internet consumers. Increased traffic enhances the probability of conversions, leading to ultimately higher revenue.
Increase SEO Ranking
It has been noted that websites adhering to accessibility guidelines, such as incorporating alt text for images and closed captions for videos, tend to perform better than those lacking these features. Here are some of the top WordPress plugins that website owners employ to ensure compliance with ADA or EU accessibility standards.
One Click Accessibility
If you’re a WordPress website administrator seeking simple configuration and control of accessibility settings, consider trying One Click Accessibility. This tool provides essential accessibility settings such as ARIA landmarks, focus outlines, link target attribute clearing, and skip links.
Additionally, its user-friendly accessibility toolbar for WordPress websites allows font resizing, link underlining, negative contrast activation, high contrast triggering, and sitemap generation. Most importantly, you can visually review design changes before implementing them online.
One-Click Accessibility not only transforms your WordPress website to meet accessibility standards but also enhances its SEO friendliness. The best part is that you can enjoy all these features for free as it is a complimentary WordPress plugin.
UserWay
UserWay is a globally renowned WordPress plugin for accessibility control, requiring no pre-existing website code refactoring. This developer-friendly tool provides a basic widget for free, featuring light, accessibility-friendly designs with up to 28 features. While the free option is suitable for trials, it may be insufficient for a fully-fledged commercial website. UserWay’s accessibility features enhance website compliance with ATAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, Section 508, and ADA, meeting 20% of the requirements for users on the free plan.
This accessibility plugin incorporates AI to scan your WordPress site for accessibility issues and offers valuable recommendations. Notably, UserWay enables users to navigate your website without using a mouse.
accessiBe
accessiBe is relied upon by over 100,000 websites to adhere to various global accessibility standards, boasting platinum clients such as GE, British Airways, Hilton, UCLA, Patek Philippe, and more. For those seeking a comprehensive solution for website accessibility, accessiBe is worth exploring.
Its AI programming autonomously scans both the back end and front end of your web page to identify and address accessibility issues, automatically rectifying elements like icons, ARIA attributes, image alt texts, and forms. The plugin assists in optimizing page structure for enhanced keyboard accessibility and ensures continuous scanning for new content to maintain consistency in accessibility settings.
accessiBe utilizes two distinct programs to meet maximum accessibility standards. The GUI accessibility interface controls website design and UI elements in accordance with WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Simultaneously, the AI accessibility tool operates in the background, handling user requests for full keyboard-based navigation or screen reader support from differently-abled users.
WP Accessibility Tools
The WordPress.org portal provides a selection of reliable, efficient, and user-friendly accessibility plugins. Among the notable offerings is the WP Accessibility Tools & Missing Alt Text Finder, available as an open-source project, allowing users to benefit from its services at no cost.
The dedicated development team actively monitors the plugin for bugs and consistently releases updates, with the latest version marked as 1.4. The tool is compatible with various WordPress versions, starting from 4.8 and above, and has been tested on WordPress 5.8.4. It also supports PHP version 5.3 and higher. Currently, more than 4,000 active WordPress sites utilize this plugin, earning it a 5-star rating.
While the primary focus of the tool is ADA Section 508 compliance, it includes an automated checklist highlighting website shortcomings preventing WCAG 2.1 compliance. As an accessibility settings auditor, the tool suggests fixes, which users need to implement independently or with the assistance of a website developer. In addition to auditing, the plugin offers features such as inserting description text, caption text, and alt text for images individually or with a single click, along with an integrated contrast ratio checker. Although the tool may not offer an extensive range of features, its open-source nature allows users to utilize the available functionalities and complement them with other solutions to achieve accessibility compliance.
Equalize Digital
Equalize Digital is a reputable tool designed for accessibility checking and remediation. Users can access its free or premium accessibility audit tool to identify issues with their WordPress websites. After identifying these issues, users can collaborate with a developer to address them, or they can opt for Equalize Digital’s accessibility design remediation service to ensure compliance with various accessibility standards.
The accessibility audit tool conducts tasks such as issue scanning, performance optimization monitoring, and reporting the accessibility status of the website. Notably, the scanning occurs in real-time, allowing users to continue uploading content, changing themes, or adding plugins without interruption, as the tool continuously checks and updates the website for accessibility changes.
Accessibility Suite
Accessibility Suite, available on the WordPress.org portal, holds a 4-star rating on the WordPress plugin store. The tool has been tested up to WordPress CMS version 5.8.4 and has garnered over 1,000 active installations. Primarily an auditing tool, this accessibility plugin offers a WordPress scanner to identify accessibility issues based on international standards such as ADA, Section 508, and WCAG. Users may need to engage with a developer to address identified issues or use another WordPress plugin for remediation.
Conclusion
The significance of website accessibility has grown, especially for public-facing web pages and portals. Ensuring compliance with accessibility norms is crucial for websites that rely on traffic for revenue, aiming to attract a broader audience. In contemporary development practices, developers prioritize accessibility features during the initial project phase. Additionally, website owners, whether for maintenance or addressing new content, can easily handle accessibility issues on WordPress without the need for developers. Utilizing the tools mentioned above simplifies the process of making websites accessible for individuals with varying abilities.
