Enhance WordPress Accessibility with Easy-to-Follow Steps!

The sole reason to set up an online website is to reach out wider audience. We practice the best web design, SEO, and other marketing norms to spread our online business, basically for a perfect human being. But we forget about others who are visually impaired or are suffering from another kind of impairment. Such people contribute to a considerable percentage that you can not afford to miss to succeed.

Many technological advancements like Screen Reader have made things easier for visually impaired people while interacting with websites. So, you shouldn’t be ignoring this area too. If you run a blog or any other CMS with WordPress, choose to enhance its accessibility for those with any kind of physical impairment especially visually challenged.

When we talk about WordPress accessibility it is definitely not an overnight process. You need to follow a systematic approach right from the initial stages of development. When you hire a WordPress developer to start with the things, make sure you are not restricting its usage for a specific type of user. Everyone accessing the web should be able to browse and interact with your WordPress site irrespective of the device using.

By making your WordPress site more accessible, you are making it easy to access amongst people without any kind of assistance requires.

So, How can you make your WordPress Site Accessible?

Making your WordPress site accessible requires a certain effort and time. However, you shouldn’t consider it to be an overwhelming task. A golden rule to start with the process is to test your current website accessibility. To serve this need, there are multiple online free to use tools available like Accessibility Checklist offered by ELSEVIER.

Spending more time while utilizing website accessibility tools will provide you with a clear picture of exactly what you need to fix or work on.

Now, Let me take you through some best ways to start enhancing WordPress accessibility below:-

Choose an accessibility-ready theme

One reason that I am mentioning this point first is that sometimes the different techniques you choose to enhance website accessibility aren’t compatible with the theme coding (already using theme). In case you are just setting up with the things, you have the freedom to select a WordPress theme that is accessibility-ready.

Otherwise, you can think of shifting to a new WordPress theme. In the WordPress theme directory, you can easily get an accessibility-ready theme to serve needs like navigation schemas being accessed via keyboard only, clear contrasts, and many more.

Incorporate ARIA in WordPress HTML

ARIA stands for Accessible Rich Internet Application that can easily specify attributes of WordPress HTML’s. This way the screen reader can identify the attributes accurately and pass the same to end users.

In the current time, it is the key aspect of accessible WordPress site development with an accurate user-experience. The two core attributes of ARIA include States and Properties. Where States deals with the dynamic features (get affected with user interaction), the properties are fixed in nature and have nothing to do with user interaction on the website.

Incorporating ARIA in your WordPress site is definitely not an easy task. So, it is always advisable to take help from WordPress experts.

Choose to install Accessibility Plugins

If you don’t wish to hire experts for coding, there is no need to stress out. As there are multiple accessibility plugins available for your reference. While you can make all elements accessible with plugins, plugins can allow you to make some important changes.

‘WP Accessibility’ is the best example to consider. It is a multi-featured plugin that allows you to optimize your WordPress site from different aspects. You can remove irrelevant attributes and add important labels to the form fields etc.

Plus, there are many other advantages that you can explore. However, you are not restricted to this choice only. It is just a suggestion from me. Otherwise, you can always look for the best one suiting your business needs.

FINAL WORDS

For many of us, internet and websites are only for fit human beings. But it is not the case as technology has come a long way to comfort those who are visually impaired or illiterate. So, if you are an online business owner, you need to think about this aspect as well.

In this article, I have come up with different ideas of incorporating Accessibility in your WordPress site along with its brief introduction and need. In the end, I am being hopeful that you find this article informative.

For more information or queries, contact me anytime.