Re: Accessibility in WordPress

Hello Char,

I'm a member of the Make WordPress Accessible Team, and Katherine (Hi
Katherine) has kindly put in the link to some accessibility resources that
we as a team have been putting together. The main a11y blog for WordPress
is at https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/

The accessibility of the WordPress admin screens has improved dramatically
over the last 3 years - although there is still some way to go. You don't
say whether you are using a screen reader, but most things are I believe
accessible to screen readers now.

To answer your questions specifically (for WordPress 4.1.1 - the latest
version)

>
1.       Through the CMS, you cannot enter code, so you can't add a null
alt (alt=""). We have captions for most our images, so leaving the Alt Text
field blank because the screen reader is reading the Caption and a caption
and alt text would be overload.

GA - When you upload a new image into a page or a post, in the Add Media
area the caption and alternate text will be blank by default, with the file
name going into the title input field. If you insert image into page like
this, the alt attribute will be set to the filename. Blanking out the
contents of the title box at this stage will result in an empty alt
attribute (alt="") being written into the page/post.

It's possible to add in alternate text at this stage if required and this
does pass straight through into the page as the alt attribute contents.

When you add images this way, WordPress will always insert and alt
attribute of some sort - either full or empty.

Although there is a box labelled title, it is a while since this
information actually resulted in a title attribute being written into the
page.

In your query you state that having a caption and an alt attribute is
overload. I'd say that if an image is worth a caption then surely that
ought to be the alternate text too. Screen reader users may possibly be
more likely to come across the image than the caption for it.

>2.       You can add the alt attribute via the code if the images were
added in the code

GA - Yes you can if you want to. The edit content box has two views, a
semi-WYSIWYG 'Visual' view with no HTML, or the 'Text' view which shows the
HTML, which can be amended how you see fit. So if you wish to amend the alt
attribute by hand, you can.

>3.       If images were entered outside the CMS (via the page code),
however, you cannot add alt attribute via the CMS field.

GA - Actually you can. In 'View' mode, if you can click on an image that
was added in HTML view, and select to edit the image, an overlay appears
into which you can add alternate text which will then be associated with
that image.

>4.       Screenreaders do not read the filename (thankfully)
>From my experience they only read the filename if the alt attribute is
missing altogether. The WP admin screens have been improved over the years
so that it's almost impossible to add an image without an alt attribute -
assuming you use the Add Media tools.

Hope that helps.

Regards
Graham Armfield



coolfields.co.uk <http://www.coolfields.co.uk/>
M:07905 590026
T: 01483 856613
@coolfields <https://twitter.com/coolfields>

On Fri, Mar 13, 2015 at 6:28 PM, Char Easter <ceaster@seattletimes.com>
wrote:

>  Hello, Has there been discussion on accessibility in WordPress?
>
>
>
> Here are a few things I learned from my tests for Alt attributes, but
> would love to know more about all accessibility WP characteristics.
>
>
>
> 1.       Through the CMS, you cannot enter code, so you can't add a null
> alt (alt=""). We have captions for most our images, so leaving the Alt Text
> field blank because the screen reader is reading the Caption and a caption
> and alt text would be overload.
>
> 2.       You can add the alt attribute via the code if the images were
> added in the code
>
> 3.       If images were entered outside the CMS (via the page code),
> however, you cannot add alt attribute via the CMS field.
>
> 4.       Screenreaders do not read the filename (thankfully)
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> *Char Easter*
>
> User Experience Designer
>
> w: 206.464.2945
>
> c: 206.779.2427
>
> ceaster@seattletimes.com
>
>  [image: STC_letsworktogether]
>
>
>