I just came across a great article. It’s an overview of what web accessibility is, why it’s important, and some concrete tips for WordPress users—as opposed to site builders, developers, themers, etc.—to improve their site’s accessibility. Most of the tips about text formatting should be familiar to regular readers of the MRWweb blog: headings, alt text, and link anchor text.
What I really loves, though, was how the article closes with this passage under the heading “Testing Your Page”:
Imagine reading the page out to someone over the phone.
- Do you need to stop to describe images?
- Do you have to supplement heading or links with extra descriptions?
- Were the pages hard to read aloud?
- Do you get lost/distracted easily?
If the answer to all of the above is “No”, then congratulations! You are well on your way to creating an site that is accessible to everyone.
I thought this was a great way to make accessibility evaluation accessible to everyone, and I’ll use this metaphor going forward. The whole article is worth a read.