-
More than a Seat at the Table
Pre-COVID when we could go to restaurants, there were times I’d sit down at the table unnoticed. The servers would walk by. After a few minutes, I’d wave to get their attention as they passed by again. It’s happened to all of us. It’s not a big deal. But what if the server continues to…
-
Setting up NVDA on Parallels with macOS
This is mostly personal notes that I hope can be helpful to someone else. A lot of this info I gathered and consolidated from Deque’s super helpful post, Using Windows Screen Readers on a Mac. Get Parallels Download Parallels and follow the set-up. I don’t want to put instructions here, as they’ll likely change and…
-
If It Looks Like a Duck: A Cautionary Tale
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck.” I recently worked on putting a plan together for improving the accessibility of a search component on WordPress.com. The existing interaction worked like a combobox where the focus was kept on the search input and…
-
Podcast Player block: Behind-the-Scenes Accessibility
On my team at Automattic, we built the new Podcast Player block released in Jetpack 8.5 and on WordPress.com. This post is intended to give you a behind-the-scenes style look at all the little details that went into attempting to provide a good, accessible experience for everyone. I’ll be focusing a lot on Screen Reader-specific…
-
The 5 Minute Accessibility Audit
Being great at something takes a lot of dedication and practice. But, you can often be OK at something without too much difficulty. This article is to help you with the latter part. Knowing just enough to be able to make an educated guess on the accessibility of a site or component/plugin. Can you use…
-
Accessibility 101 for Content Creators
A perfectly coded website will still break down if the content isn’t written and built accessibly. This article is intended to give a no-coding-required breakdown of how to make accessible content. I’ll use WordPress as a basis for examples when relevant, but the same principles apply to however you build your website. Use Headings Headings…
-
The Importance of HTML
In 1917, the artist Michael Duchamp submitted his work, “Fountain” to an art exhibition. It’s a used urinal. And it stirred up yet another conversation about, “What is art?” I’ve only taken one art history class, so forgive my simplification here. Essentially, art is subjective. If you personally don’t like Duchamp’s urinal, it doesn’t make…
-
Quick Tips to Improve your Website’s Accessibility
Web accessibility shouldn’t be an afterthought, but, oftentimes, it is. Fortunately, for most basic sites, it’s easy to make some minor adjustments that make a huge difference in the site’s accessibility. I recently retrofitted some of my designs and code to be more accessible, so here’s a few quick tips I picked up along the…
-
Skip to Content Link Bug in Chrome
Skip to content links are a great way to give people using screen readers a quick way to skip your navigation and go straight to the good stuff. Unfortunately, Chrome’s implementation is buggy, and I tried to trouble-shoot it for far longer than I would have liked. My previous skip to content link looked like…
-
Accessible Web Design Pull Quotes
Pull quotes are a great way for articles to pull readers in with your swanky text, reflect traditional print design, and show off your highfalutin typography skills. And, let’s be honest, it just looks so nice. If you don’t think so, you’re probably not reading this article. You’ll need to be OK with HTML and…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Jerry Jones 