Tag Archives: wp-a11y-docs

Rian Rietveld 7:29 am on June 30, 2026
Tags: , wp-a11y-docs   

WP A11y Docs update June 2026

With: the feedback we received on the accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility)-ready requirements and the knowledge base during Contributor dayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ at WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe, as well as the work we did to process that feedback.

Read the recap of the Accessibility Team’s work at WordCamp Europe 2026 for more details.

During the contributor day of WordCamp Europe, people at one table tested themes for the accessibility-ready tag. This gave us an excellent opportunity to see if the knowledge base works. We got useful feedback and the rest of the month we worked on processing this.

All the documentation for the accessibility-ready tag is now renamed Accessibility-ready program and is placed under one main menu item. Now the information is easier to discover and it gives us room to add more related documentation to this section. Some URLs have changed, we tried to catch all links but if you discover a still broken URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org, please let us know.

Important feedback was: We need to enhance accessibility-ready guidelines with classic vs. blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. theme information and examples how to achieve the guidelines. More info about this in [issue #332].

The “Last updated” date now works thanks to @joedolson. So for example on Using headings in the content, the Last updated: May 22, 2026, at the bottom of the content with the metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. data, is now correct.

Rian hopes to update and finish the documentation about how to test for accessibility in July.

#accessibility-ready, #wp-a11y-docs

Rian Rietveld 7:46 am on June 1, 2026
Tags: wp-a11y-docs   

WP A11y Docs update May 2026

With:

  • the updated accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility)-ready requirements for themes,
  • work in progress on the documentation,
  • our plans for the contributor dayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ at WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe.


The new accessibility-ready requirements for themes

The main work in May on wpaccessibility.org was adding and updating the new accessibility-ready requirements for themes, by Amber Hinds (@alh0319) and Joe Dolson (@joedolson):

Joe Dolson posted about this new requirements in Accessibility-Ready Requirements Updated.

This means that all themes with the tag accessibility-ready need to be reviewed again and for this Amber organized a GAAD Theme Accessibility Testing Workshop. Many people joined in to learn how to test a theme.

Work in progress on the documentation

Jessica Lyschik (@luminuu) opened the issue Enhance accessibility-ready guidelines with classic vs. block theme information and examples how to achieve the guidelines for extending the info with a guideline with technical details on how to implement the requirements for both the tester and the theme developer who might have to fix these things.

Rian Rietveld is working on cross linking the topics in Standards and Best practices with the new accessibility-ready guidelines, and making way of adding resources uniform cross the site.

Rian is also working on updating the pages about how to test for accessibility.

Annelies Verhelst (@anneliesjenl) wrote an update of the page about accessibility legislation worldwide, in Standards and best practice. So much has changed the last few years. This update is currently in review.

Anne-Mieke Bovelett (@annebovelett) is working on updating and extending pages about the Accessibility for your business, in Start with Accessibility.

WordCamp Europe contibutor day

In preparation for WordCamp Europe, Rian makes an inventory of the accessibility info on wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ and its sub sites. She plans to talk to the docs and metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. team about how to make the info about accessibility available in a workable way while avoiding duplicate content.

Also, we want your opinion about the info on wpaccessibility.org and perform user testing on the site. So hop by the accessibility table if you want to test or discuss the WP Accessibility Knowledge Base.

#wp-a11y-docs

Rian Rietveld 8:58 am on April 30, 2026
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WP A11y Docs update April 2026

New and updated documentation: about alternative text for images, headings and links plus an introduction to WCAGWCAG WCAG is an acronym for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are helping make sure the internet is accessible to all people no matter how they would need to access the internet (screen-reader, keyboard only, etc) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/.. Featured content: Styling links.

Work in progress: documentation about how to test for accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility), update of the info about the accessibility-ready tag in the themes handbook and figure out a section “Can I use”.

New and updated content, added in April 2026:

Work in progress

At the moment we are working on extending and updating the docs about how to web accessibility.

In May ’26 we want to update the information in the Themes handbook about the accessibility-ready tag. We updated the guidelines and the current info on Themes handbook about accessibility is outdated.

We are also discussing if and how to set up a “Can I Use” section for coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. blocks. With the status per blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. about its accessibility. All input is appreciated, we want to set something up that is not a ton of work, but is findable and informative for users. This may be a good topic to work on at WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe ’26.

All feedback on the documentation is very much welcome.

#accessibility-ready, #wp-a11y-docs

Rian Rietveld 9:54 am on March 30, 2026
Tags: wp-a11y-docs   

WP A11y Docs update March 2026

This update informs you about:

  • new and updated documentation on wpaccessibility.org;
  • work in progress.

New and updated documentation on wpaccessibility.org

  • Quick wins to improve the accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) of your website.
  • The Reading guide, vistors now can find content by role or expertise instead of by topic only.
  • A Disclaimer, in short: This documentation is intended to help the WordPress community understand and implement accessible practices. It is not a replacement for the official Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Focus management

Training

Start with accessibility: How to get training to learn web accessibility, with subpages addressing:

Current handbook

We will wait with transferring the current Accessibility Team Handbook to GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. https://github.com/ until later, we need to explain and discuss this in more detail with the MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. team. Maybe WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe will be a good opportunity for this.

Work in progress

We are discussing if and how to set up a “Can I Use” section for coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. blocks (GitHub issue 294). With the status per core blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. about its accessibility. All input is appreciated.

Documentation we are working on to improve at the moment:

  • Alt text for images in the content and in theme development.
  • Headings in the content and in theme development.
  • Introduction to WCAGWCAG WCAG is an acronym for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are helping make sure the internet is accessible to all people no matter how they would need to access the internet (screen-reader, keyboard only, etc) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/..
  • Accessibility for your business.
  • Legislation.

All feedback on the documentation is very much welcome.

#wp-a11y-docs

Rian Rietveld 8:59 am on March 2, 2026
Tags: wp-a11y-docs   

WP A11y Docs update February 2026

This update informs you about:

  • new content;
  • changes in the current team handbook;
  • plans for March.

New content on wpaccessibility.org

  • The way of navigating the content is now less depending on the main menu. For a better user experience, also for mobile views.
  • We added the Reading guide, vistors now can find content by role or expertise instead of by topic only.

Changes in the current team handbook

The Accessibility Team Handbook now only addresses the info about the AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) team itself and for the accessibility documentation we now point to the Standards and best practices in the WP Accessibility Knowledge Base. Since redirects for popular pages are not possible, some subpages will be left in place to guide users to the updated content.

Plans for March ’26

  • Finish the documentation about Focus management, in the sections Frontend code and Web forms.
  • Start with updating and extending the documentation for the section Content and images.
  • Transfer the Accessibility team handbook to GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. https://github.com/.

#wp-a11y-docs

Rian Rietveld 7:27 am on February 3, 2026
Tags: , wp-a11y-docs   

WP A11y Docs update December 2025 and January 2026

This update informs you about:

  • new documentation;
  • user feedback on the content structure;
  • WCAGWCAG WCAG is an acronym for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are helping make sure the internet is accessible to all people no matter how they would need to access the internet (screen-reader, keyboard only, etc) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/.-EM audit on the website;
  • plans for February.

New documentation

Amber Hinds and Joe Dolson wrote and published documentation for the new accessibility-ready tag guidelines for WordPress themes:

The documentation about web forms is almost ready, new is Provide help,
with:

User testing

From user testing by Dutch frontent developers, we got ideas for a better organisation of the content structure. We are working on less items in the main menu and better in-page navigation to related content. That way content is better findable and can be found in multiple ways, not only by the search option or the main menu.

WCAG-EM audit

The website wpaccessibility.org got an official WCAG-EM audit, the site passes the audit for WCAG 2.2 AA compliance. We created an accessibility statement for the website.

Work for February ’26

  • Finish the reorganisation content
  • Add a reading guide
  • Finish all documentation about forms, next is “Focus management in forms”.
  • Start with the documentation for the section Content and images
  • Rian will give a presentation about the WP A11yAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) Docs project at WPLDN in London on February 26.

All feedback on the documentation is very much welcome.

#accessibility-ready, #wp-a11y-docs

Rian Rietveld 7:08 am on December 1, 2025
Tags: wp-a11y-docs   

WP A11y Docs update November 2025

This update informs you about:

  • new design and a better search option wpaccessibility.org;
  • contributors feedback on WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Netherlands;
  • new and updated documentation;
  • accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) audit on the website.

New design and a better search option wpaccessibility.org

Jeffrey Lauwers from Vals Plat created a beautiful new design for wpaccessibility.org. He aimed to ensure optimal readability combined with a style that aligns with WordPress. Read his rationale about the new design.

He created also a Wapuu for the project.
Meet the WPA11yPuu!

WPA11yPuu A yellow bear like creature, holding a black ball with a white accessibility logo, a person with arms wide

@joedolson improved the search: there is an actual search result page now, instead of only a autocomplete dropdown. Rian implemented the design just before WordCamp Netherlands.

Contributors feedback on WordCamp Netherlands

At WCNL Rian gave a presentation about the project and there were two contributor sessions. The main takeaway was that we also need a more prominent section about why we need accessibility. To have documentation to share with clients, team members or, for example, stackholders that do not see the point.

New and updated documentation

Accessibility audit on the website

In the first week of December, Florian Schroiff (@floll) from Level Level will perform a WCAG-EM accessibility audit on the website, including the new design and the updated search option. We will fix what he found in December, because we want to practice what we preach.

Plans for December 2025

  • Continue to write the documentation.
  • Make sure wpaccessibility.org is WCAGWCAG WCAG is an acronym for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are helping make sure the internet is accessible to all people no matter how they would need to access the internet (screen-reader, keyboard only, etc) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/. 2.2 AA accessible.

#wp-a11y-docs

Rian Rietveld 9:36 am on October 29, 2025
Tags: wp-a11y-docs   

WP A11y Docs update October 2025

This update informs you about:

  • publishing of new documentation has started;
  • the accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) of wpaccessibility.org itself;
  • presentations at WP Meetups about the project;
  • how you can help.

Accessibility information for web forms

We started publishing documentation in the section Standards and best practice.

Three topics are now published:

For the pages about web forms we need examples of how WP plugins handle this (or don’t handle this).

Accessibility of wpaccessibility.org

@joedolson is working on making the search option at the top of each page, fully accessible. We hope to finish that soon. After that Level Level will perform an official WCAG EM audit. Because we need to practice what we preach.

Making noise

Rian gave two presentations at the WP Meetups, in Amsterdam and Utrecht about the project; This resulted in more readers and reviewers of new documentation and also possibly one more sponsor. The next talk will be November 27 ’25 at WordCamp Netherlands.

How can you help?

Read new content and let us know what you think. We write for you! Can you understand it, is it helpful, do you need more or different examples. New content doesn’t starts with the alert “This content needs to be reviewed and expanded”.

For the pages about web forms we need examples of how plugins handle accessibility. Do you use or work for one of the major WordPress Form plugins and want to help? Please contact us, we need your expertise.

Plans for november 2025

  • Continue to write the documentation about web forms.
  • Make sure wpaccessibility.org is WCAGWCAG WCAG is an acronym for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are helping make sure the internet is accessible to all people no matter how they would need to access the internet (screen-reader, keyboard only, etc) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/. 2.2 AA accessible.

#wp-a11y-docs

Rian Rietveld 6:16 am on September 30, 2025
Tags: , , wp-a11y-docs   

WP A11y Docs update September 2025

This update informs you about:

  • The Knowledge Base is ready to contribute.
  • Issues on GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. https://github.com/ with what needs to be written or reviewed.
  • The work planned for October 2025.
  • How you can help.

Knowledge Base is ready to contribute

In September we made the website wpaccessibility.org ready to contribute. All accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) content from the current handbook is copied into this website. Also new placeholder pages are made, for new content.

Yoren Chang @1fixdotio worked hard to create a preview option for pull requests for the site, so everyone can review proposed content without needing a local installLocal Install A local install of WordPress is a way to create a staging environment by installing a LAMP or LEMP stack on your local computer.. She is really amazing.

The How to contribute pages are written, also for contributors who don’t work with GitHub and just want to write or review.

GitHub issues with what needs to be written or reviewed

Rian wrote issues on GitHub for each documentation page belonging to Standards and best practice. For review and rewrite of the content. Each issues is labeled by topic.

For example the page Headings in the content now has an alert, about what needs be done with the content and a link to the related GitHub issue.

How can you help?

On How to contribute you can read the different ways to contribute to this project. If you want to help writing, pick an issue from the list of Todo issues on the projectboard Wp A11y Docs. Only contribute if you know the topic well or have good resources to share.

Note: Please write the content yourself and use AI only to translate or to check the quality of your English.

Plans for October

@rianrietveld will start writing content for the Knowledge Base, now everything is mapped out. She will also give presentations about the project at the WPMeetup020 (Amsterdam) and WPMeetup030 (Utrecht). You can help her by sponsoring Rian’s time and expenses.

@Aminul will work on the migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. of the current handbook to a new Github repo accessibility-team-handbook on github.com/wordpress. Only the Accessibility Team related info will stay into that handbook.

@joedolson and @1fixdotio work on the remaining issues in wpaccessibility.org itself.

#accessibility, #make-wordpress-org-updates, #wp-a11y-docs

Krupa Nanda 12:28 pm on September 9, 2025
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Accessibility Team Meeting Notes: September 03, 2025

On Wednesday, September 03, 2025 at 15:00 UTC, team meeting started in #accessibility facilitated by @krupajnanda. You can read the full transcript or see the meeting agenda.

New Team Reps

@krupajnanda and @thisisyeasin are selected as AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) Team Reps, and @muddassirnasim joined the team to contribute and gain experience in the role.

Accessibility Team Meeting Schedule

The team discussed finding the best meeting time that works across different groups, with @joedolson and the other team reps working to propose options for a vote. The new meeting time is to be announced soon!

Updates from working groups

Design

  • @joedolson shared that the design working group’s main focus is the admin redesign, which is a large and complex project that’s difficult to track. He emphasised the importance of reviewing new interfaces for accessibility since current work is mostly limited to design proposals. He also pointed out that specific areas, such as BlockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. Commenting, need more design attention and shared a related GitHub issue for reference.

Documentation

  • @rianrietveld and @joedolson are working on new Accessibility documentation, which can be followed on the make/accessibility blog with the hashtag #wp-a11y-docs. They are getting more contributors to help with this effort.

General

  • @joedolson reported on progress with coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. tickets, noting that 28 tickets were assigned to the 6.9 milestone, 7 were punted due to inactivity, and 18 have been committed. He also introduced a large patch on #40428 ticket related to hiding CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site.-generated content from assistive technologies and requested testing support.
  • Joe shared that he audited the WordPress admin for CSS-generated content issues, made changes to ensure dashicons selectors use generated empty alternatives, and emphasised the need to verify there are no visual differences in updated code. @krupajnanda suggested a potential “call for testing” post and requested instructions on how to test, to which Joe confirmed he would prepare guidance.

Gutenberg Team

  • @joedolson shared that the GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ items and the implementation of the Lightbox in Galleries are the most relevant things that need testing.

Media

  • @joedolson mentioned he had a discussion point but preferred to defer it to the next meeting due to time constraints. He requested adding “Discuss integration of media metadata sourced alt text” to the next meeting’s agenda.

Meta

  • No updates were reported.

Themes

  • @joedolson reported that work is still ongoing to complete the accessibility-ready themes documentation, with Amber Hinds set to follow up on that.

Open Floor

  • Nothing major was discussed during the open floor.

NOTE: If you’d like to have a topic added to the agenda for our next meeting, please mention it in the comments on an upcoming agenda.

Thank you, @muddassirnasim, for the pre-publish review.

#accessibility, #meeting-notes