Category: Sponsors

This post is sponsored by AmericanEagle.com, a WP Accessibility Day Silver sponsor.

AmericanEagle.com is an industry leader in professional website design, strategy, development, and hosting. Truly a one-stop shop offering a full range of solutions for anyone looking to succeed in their online endeavors. Americaneagle.com is a family owned, privately held company with a long history of profitability and stability.

Experience

Since 1995, AmericanEagle.com has completed more than 12,000 online solutions in nearly every industry, from small and mid-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies. They’ve also successfully completed websites and other online initiatives for professional sports teams as well as large associations. 

Thanks to their wide range of experiences, they have the unique ability to see the wider picture when it comes to web technology. If they find that an online tool works for one industry, they can identify its potential to bring success to another industry. Furthermore, with over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, their familiarity of the business allows them to provide customers with the most comprehensive web services and support available. Services are done in house, so if there are any issues that need to be addressed, whether it involves hardware, software, programming, connectivity, or the updating of their sites, they have the means and resources to achieve an expedited resolution. 

Innovative Global Solutions

AmericanEagle.com’s international experience and expertise in website design and development focus on creating digital solutions tailored to the unique needs and business objectives of every client. The trust they’ve earned over the last two plus decades is fostered by an innovative, productive, and collaborative approach that positions clients at the forefront. In the ever-changing technology industry, a company with global vision and leadership to think beyond borders is required in order to provide online experiences that drives growth. With offices in England, Bulgaria, and Switzerland, they are proud to work with some of the greatest brands throughout Europe, including World Health Organization, Beretta, HomeServe, SoleTrader, Terex, and many more.

Their Services

• Web Design & Development 
• Digital Marketing
• Accessibility
• Ecommerce
• Strategy & Consulting
• Hosting & Security
• Integration
• Mobile Solutions
• Post Launch Support

Accessibility matters

AmericanEagle.com continues to expand its services with web accessibility and remediation specialists to exemplify their due diligence to improving clients’ web experience. They aim to improve websites for all types of users and help spread inclusive concepts following compliance regulations such as Section 508, ADA, and AODA. 

The main focus of accessibility review at AmericanEagle.com is around WCAG 2.1 but the larger goal is to improve site usability as a whole with a universal design mindset. AmericanEagle.com has a strong passion, advocacy and dedication for improving the web for all users and intend to educate all industries and clients on the major benefits of focusing on accessibility. 

Expertise that matters

In addition to experience, another key to success is their commitment and dedication to providing the best possible client services. While other companies claim to provide top-notch customer service, AmericanEagle.com delivers an unparalleled customer service throughout the industry.

The client websites they have designed over the years have produced strong revenues and sales leads. This success is credited to several factors: a design that is easy to navigate, a pleasant look and feel, and programming that abides by the indexing technology of search engines. Indeed, AmericanEagle.com is incredibly proud of the online stability and success their clients have achieved by employing their expertise.

Once your website is live, they anticipate your continued partnership in their world-class, secure data facility that is staffed 24/7/365. 

There is no other company in this field, known to AmericanEagle.com that has paralleled capacities from concept to design and development, to hosting, marketing, then maintaining websites – for as long and successfully as they have.

Let us help you by contacting American Eagle to get started. 

This post is sponsored by Alley, a WP Accessibility Day Silver sponsor.

Are you looking to upskill as a Web professional by taking the IAAP CPACC (Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies) certification? Pattie Reaves, a principal user experience developer at Alley, recently completed the certification through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and she described what her journey to taking the test was like.

Accessibility Awareness

Reaves first became aware of the importance of making Web work accessible while working at a small Maine newspaper as a web editor. She would receive phone calls from a reader who was blind when changes were made to the website that would make it difficult to use with a screen reader. 

Reaves said this experience taught her to be proactively mindful of how inclusive we can make our work. For the one person who speaks up that the experience doesn’t work, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, that just give up on your site and chalk it up to a bad user experience. It is a reminder of the huge impact we can have on someone’s life as a web developer.  

We need to give power to marginalized voices. When someone says “this feature doesn’t work for me because my screen reader can’t use it or I can’t use it with a keyboard,” then we really need to step back, think about what we are trying to do, and listen to them,” Reaves said.

Pursuit of Certification

Last year, Reaves wanted to elevate her skillset as a user experience developer and began to pursue her CPACC after hearing about the certification in the web a11y slack community.  In preparation she joined the WebAIM mailing list and then took the Deque University IAAP CPACC Certification Preparation Course.

Reaves dedicated about 20 hours of studying over the past year. She planned to take the test in March, and then coronavirus happened, which canceled all in-person testing in the United States. IAAP began to offer the test remotely using remote proctoring – where you take the test on your own computer and a proctor watches you to ensure the integrity of the test-taking process. Reaves completed the exam in August and is waiting to receive the results.

The Certification Process

After applying for the test within provided testing timeframes, test-takers schedule a time to take the exam. Software is installed on your computer that allows a proctor to watch test takers through the three-hour exam window.  

It is a rigorous examination, Reaves said. Materials are not allowed on your desk. The proctor must be able to see your ears. The space you use needs to be very quiet, and no one can be in the room – not even your dog! Reaves said when she was taking the test, her dog Stella barked and she told the dog to be quiet. The proctor stopped the test and reminded her she could not talk to anyone during the testing period.  With the pandemic quarantine and those confined to working in small shared spaces, it is essential to know this to plan.

Accessible Boldness

Since studying and learning the CPACC coursework, Reaves has become bolder. “I’m not afraid to talk about accessibility — it’s made it easier for me to talk about the frameworks we have to include people,” she said. “What I really like about the CPACC certification is that it’s not exclusive to the digital medium. They do talk about building design and waypoints and physical accessibility. It’s really about models and laws of how we work globally, not just digital media. I now pay attention more to how are people excluded.”

Reaves agrees that there is more knowledge and interest in making the Web accessible in the developer community than there had been when she started. Referring back to the blind reader who called her at the newspaper a decade ago, “If he hadn’t called me, then I wouldn’t have thought about it,” she said. “I’m finding that it’s become a much bigger part of the conversation over the last five years because of the legal impact. And, I think people are a lot more aware of the usability benefits that you gain from accessible websites.”

Reaves invites you to join her journey to make the Web more accessible with her and her colleagues on Alley’s blog at https://alley.co. Alley is a digital agency that does design, development, and strategy. They primarily work with publishers, nonprofits, and museums. 

Impacting Digital Accessibility

This post is sponsored by the A11Y Collective, a WP Accessibility Day Silver sponsor.

The A11Y Collective, based out of the Netherlands, are doing their part to empower a broad audience to include digital accessibility in their workflow! Whether you are looking to further your personal or professional development, are a designer, web developer, content marketer, editor, project manager or a business owner, look no further.

The A11Y Collective launched its e-learning platform with several courses on accessible web design, code, and content this past Spring. Their goal is to allow more people to learn how to create, design, build, and write accessibly so that everyone can use the web. Creating awareness about the importance of accessible websites is critical to ensure world wide web access.

The course content is explained via video, text, and of course, includes closed-captioning in English and Spanish (Dutch will follow soon), which allows for learning at your own pace. Practice makes perfect, and you are encouraged to practice what you’ve learned right away. To further help with this, each course provides unlimited access for 6 months.

Every course will finish with a final exam, either an assignment or several questions to test your understanding. A personal certificate will be provided upon completing the final exam.

The A11Y Collective Buzz 

The A11Y Collective makes it easy to get started. So easy that they offer a complementary Try-Out Class! Yes, complementary! Brilliant! You don’t have to take it, but they don’t want any financial obstacles to learning about accessibility for all. 

Gotten enthusiastic about their courses? Then deepen your knowledge in their fun and easy to navigate inclusive design to continue your “accessibility training” journey.’ 

Courses for Everyone

Web accessibility, the basics, is the recommended course to start with. It provides a broad overview for all professions, with guidelines, tips, and tricks.

Writing-accessible-content-for-the-web is specifically designed for content marketers/editors following web content accessibility guidelines (wcag). This course is a solid foundation in building or creating content for websites. It clearly explains how to improve website content accessibility with a few easy to implement tips and tricks.

Accessible design, the basics allows you to become a better designer by creating a better user experience for everyone so they keep coming back. This course also teaches the importance of being aware of the many different ways in which someone can visit and navigate a website.

Accessible code encourages you to adopt a specific mindset to learn everything you need to know about writing accessible code. Because then everyone can use and enjoy your web pages, no matter which assistive technologies they use, such as screen readers. (Coming Soon) 

Mastermind Courses 

The masterclass Web Accessibility, the business case, explores insights about the “business” side of Web Accessibility in-depth. You will learn ways to embrace opportunities and mitigate threats in addition to how to positively impact those who are disabled, including your business, to increase income and save costs. This is a free course!

More masterclasses will be added in the future.

Trainers

Their highly selected trainers are top authority figures. They have years of experience in the field of web accessibility, combined with passion. Experience their passion and down to earth vibe as you delve into each course. 

Make an Impact 

Broadening your skills with this vital knowledge allows you to easily incorporate them into your daily work. This will provide access for not only people with disabilities but for the aging population as well. Don’t forget those with short term health setbacks, with various cognitive learning capabilities and whom work across multiple devices and environments. They all need access as well.

The A11Y Collective’s ambition is to globally spread knowledge about Web Accessibility. We invite you to join their mission, not only in your business, but in our world. We have the power to do this together! The ability to make the web accessible together! 

Learn more about their courses at The A11Y Collective.

This post is sponsored by Infoaxia, Inc., a WP Accessibility Day Gold sponsor.

In celebration of their 16^th Anniversary, Infoaxia, Inc. of Japan invites you to their free online webinar on Thursday, October 8th, on the potential of “Virtual Reality (VR) Technology in the Accessible World!” This event will be in English, accessible and inclusive with automated real-time captions and Japanese subtitles using the conversation visualization app “UD Talk.” This app allows the translation of Japanese captions into different languages. 

Evolving Technology

As many technologies evolve day by day, one that is attracting major attention is “Virtual Reality.”

• What kind of technology is virtual reality in the first place?

• What kind of impact will it have on the aging society and the daily lives of people with disabilities? 
• Unfortunately, many of the experiences with virtual reality technology are not considered accessible at this time.

The Future of Virtual Reality

Guest speaker and Accessibility expert Mr. Thomas Logan of Equal Entry, USA, will empower us to think about the future of “virtual reality” and “accessibility” and how to combine them for everyone’s enjoyment.  

Examples of design solutions will be introduced using virtual reality, as well as sharing the prospects of what is currently possible in 2020, what is likely to be possible in the future, and accessibility issues.

Mr. Logan is one of the experts to focus on the accessibility of virtual reality as his company’s primary focus is on how people with disabilities actually use technology. 

Time Schedule (JST, UTC+09:00)

Thursday, October 8^th, 2020

• 15:00 – 15: 10 Opening
• 15:10 – 15: 40 “What is virtual reality?” (Thomas Logan) 
  • What is VR and what changes will it bring to our daily lives?
  • Introducing case studies using VR for tourists visiting Japan
• 15:40 – 15: 50 Q & A
• 15:50 – 16: 00 Break
• 16:00 – 16: 30 “Virtual Reality and Accessibility” (Thomas Logan) 
  • An example showing accessibility challenges in a VR experience
  • WebXR Accessibility Improvement Requirements
• 16:30 – 16: 55 Q & A
• 16:55 – 17: 00 Ending

Please note that this schedule is subject to change without notice. Thank you for your understanding in advance.

Question & Answer Session

Normally arrangements would be made for an interpreter, but this time they are going to test the capabilities of technology. “UD Talk” has an automatic translation function in addition to real-time subtitles. This technology makes it possible to have a question-and-answer session with an English-speaking speaker without an interpreter. Please bear with them as they attempt to use this new technology.  Questions will also be accepted in Japanese to accommodate the host country!

Sign Up  to reserve your free spot for the Virtual Reality and Accessibility Webinar. Reservation deadline is October 8th at 13:00.

Preparation before the Webinar

As the registration link is in Japanese, here are instructions in English. 

1. Please reserve your seat.
2. If you have never used “Zoom”, please download “Zoom Client for Meetings” in advance.
3. If you want to use real-time subtitles, please download the “UD Talk” app which will translate the Japanese subtitles into any language. 
4. The Zoom URL will be provided by a Doorkeeper email message on the day of the event.

About the Guest Speaker – Thomas Logan 

Thomas Logan is the owner of the US-based Equal Entry, whose mission is to “contribute to a more accessible world.” For the past 18 years, Thomas has provided technical support to make corporate and corporate websites, services and apps available to people with disabilities. Throughout his career, he has participated in numerous US federal, state, local and private sector projects, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He is also the organizer of A11yVR – Accessibility Virtual Reality Group based in Tokyo and the co-organizer of Accessibility New York. Thomas currently lives in Tokyo.

About the Webinar Host

Infoaxia is a consulting services provider in Japan for making websites and mobile apps more accessible and inclusive. Their consulting services include web accessibility testing and evaluation, WCAG/JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) compliance audits, in-house training, user testing, design reviews and strategic planning.

Infoaxia is a member company of the international alliance of digital accessibility services providers. The member companies include Equal Entry (United States), TetraLogical (UK) and Intopia (Australia).

Makoto Ueki, is the founder of Infoaxis and an experienced consultant.  He has been participating in W3C WCAG working group since 2005 and has been contributing to the committee and working group for the Japanese national standard since 2003. He is currently working on WCAG 3 as an active participant in the W3C Silver Task Force.  He is also engaged in the formulation of accessibility guidelines in Japan and overseas, and has participated in the drafting of the Japanese Industrial Standards “JIS X 8341-3” and W3C “WCAG” since 2003. In 2019, he received the CSS Nite “Best Speaker Award” . In addition, Makoto is the first Japanese person to be certified as Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA) by IAAP (International Association of Accessibility Professionals) .

Makoto looks forward to welcoming you to their 16^th Anniversary Webinar on Thursday, October 8^th. Don’t forget to reserve your free seat as there are only 32 remaining seats.   Reservation deadline is October 8th at 13:00. 

Makoto said “We trust you will enjoy the 24 sessions of World Accessibility Day and Infoaxia wants to thank the organizers saying “domo arigato so much for making this happen!” We are proud to be doing our part to make our world more accessible and inclusive on this side of the world! Are you Ready?”

Breaking Down Accessibility Barriers

This post is sponsored by GoDaddy Pro, a WP Accessibility Day Gold sponsor.

Web accessibility is all about breaking down barriers which can prevent visitors from interacting with content. Website owners today are responsible for making their sites accessible. GoDaddy Pro helps make that happen.

As more regulations worldwide go into effect to make websites accessible for all, and more website owners become aware of the importance of accessibility, GoDaddy Pro offers a robust suite of free and A11Y compliant tools for web developers and designers. These features save time and money to manage all their clients and sites.

Users will receive many more benefits, including secured hosting, member discounts, accessible websites, eCommerce platforms, and optional premium features for added flexibility. 

Websites

GoDaddy Pro enables you to grow your business with a rich set of website tools and program benefits. Their exclusive time-saving tools allow you to bulk update WordPress core, plugins, and themes on multiple sites with one click, and automate WordPress backups, cloning and migrations, and so much more.

• Client Reports
• Uptime Monitor
• Template Builder
• Sucuri Security Check
• Backups
• Code Snippets
• Maintenance Mode
• Performance Check 
• Google Analytics

Website Management

GoDaddy Pro makes website management a breeze:

• Easily shop for your clients
• Monitor their sites
• Manage all their WordPress websites from one dashboard.

“With the full integration of one dashboard, I was like, ‘Hey this is exactly what I need.’ I don’t need to remember a bunch of passwords now, and making bulk updates is simple and fast.”

— Phil Levine, South Florida Web Advisors

Secured Client Management 

GoDaddy Pro allows you to spend less time managing client sites, shopping, and reporting individually. Do it all from a single dashboard, and free up your day to create more and manage less.

• Single sign-on
• Shared Shopping Cart
• Professional Client Reports

Hosting Compatibility

GoDaddy Pro delivers real-time performance, security, and uptime monitoring across all your client websites and is also compatible with all hosting providers.

Member Discounts

Members will receive a 30% discount on new, qualifying products. When GoDaddy Pro is paired with qualified WordPress and eCommerce hosting plans, the benefits are even more significant by including access to all their premium features at no additional cost.

Learn more about GoDaddy ProWordPress, WooCommerce, and GoDaddy —all together now. 

Secured Hosting/eCommerce Platform

GoDaddy Pro combined their secure hosting platform and partnered with WooCommerce, the world’s leading eCommerce platform built on WordPress, to offer GoDaddy WordPress eCommerce Hosting. Statistics show that up to 20% of daily sales are lost by ignoring accessibility.

Accessible Websites

GoDaddy Pro enables you to build beautifully accessible websites and shops, using their 100% accessible-ready WordPress theme Go. It’s a marvel to work with!

A11Y Compliant Online Store 

Over $1,000 worth of Premium WooCommerce Extensions is included in your plan to start your clients selling with an A11Y compliant online store that truly reflects their unique brand.

GoDaddy Pro is making it easy to take your business to new heights on your accessibility journey. For a limited time, they are offering three months of GoDaddy WordPress eCommerce Hosting for only $1. This offer is limited to 5 users per customer – one-time purchase.

Learn more about GoDaddy Pro’s special offer to receive three months of WordPress Ecommerce + Hosting for $1.00

Premium Features

Increase the flexibility of your workflow with these premium features.

• Uptime Monitor
• SEO Ranking Reports
• Link Monitor
• White Label
• Website Backup (premium)
• Automated Security Check
• Automated Performance Check
• Advanced Client Reporting

Monthly charges are waived for those with a GoDaddy WordPress Hosting Plan. The monthly charge will be waived for any GoDaddy hosting plan for Backups (with Cloning & Migration).

Additional Articles

To learn more about accessibility, we invite you to visit our previous blogs:

What is Web Accessibility?

Optimize for Accessibility on your Website and Improve Sales

Accessibility for the Blind

Video Summary

With so many offerings to absorb, watch this Video Recap! of the GoDaddy Pro Program. 

GoDaddy

Accessibility matters, and GoDaddy Pro makes this easy by providing domain, website, and marketing solutions with Certified American Disabilities Act (ADA) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) compliance.

GoDaddy is the world’s largest services platform for entrepreneurs around the globe.  They are on a mission to empower their worldwide community of 20+ million customers — and entrepreneurs everywhere — by giving them all the help and tools they need to grow online.

Follow GoDaddyPro on Twitter 

This post is sponsored by Yoast SEO, a WP Accessibility Day Gold sponsor.

Adding images to your articles encourages people to read them, and well-chosen images can also back up your message and get you a good ranking in image search results. But you should always remember to give your images good alt attributes: alt text strengthens the message of your articles with search engine spiders and improves the accessibility of your website. This article explains all about alt and title attributes and why you should optimize them.

Table of contents

• What are alt attributes and title attributes?
  • But what if an image doesn’t have a purpose?
• alt text and SEO
• What does the keyphrase in image alt attributes check do?
  • Assessment scores
• alt and title attributes in WordPress
  • How to add alt attributes in WordPress
• Read more about image SEO

Having an orange bullet for the keyphrase in alt attributes check in Yoast SEO? Here’s what this check does and how to turn that bullet green.

What are alt attributes and title attributes?

This is a complete HTML image tag:

<img src=“image.jpg” alt=“image description” title=“image tooltip”>

The alt and title attributes of an image are commonly referred to as alt tag or alt text and title tag. But technically, they’re not tags, they’re attributes. The alt text describes what’s on the image and the function of the image on the page. So if you are using an image as a button to buy product X, the alt text should say: “button to buy product X.”

The alt tag is used by screen readers, which are browsers used by blind and visually impaired people. These screen readers tell them what is on the image by reading the alt tag. The title attribute is shown as a tooltip when you hover over the element. So, in the case of an image button, the image title could contain an extra call-to-action. However, this is not a best practice.

Each image should have an alt text. Not just for SEO purposes, but also because blind and visually impaired people won’t otherwise know what the image is about. A title attribute is not required. What’s more, most of the time it doesn’t make sense to add it. They are only available to mouse (or other pointing devices) users and the only one case where the title attribute is required for accessibility is on <iframe> and <frame> tags.

If the information conveyed by the title attribute is relevant, consider making it available somewhere else, in plain text and if it’s not relevant, consider removing the title attribute entirely.

But what if an image doesn’t have a purpose?

If you have images in your design that are purely there for design reasons, you’re doing it wrong. Those images should be in your CSS and not in your HTML. If you really can’t change these images, give them an empty alt attribute, like so:

<img src="image.png" alt="">

The empty alt attribute makes sure that screen readers skip over the image. In WordPress, you can leave the field for “Alt text” in the Image settings empty.

alt text and SEO

Google’s article about images has a heading “Use descriptive alt text”. This is no coincidence: Google places a relatively high value on alt text. They use it to determine what is on the image but also how it relates to the surrounding text. This is why, in our Yoast SEO content analysis, we have a feature that specifically checks that you have at least one image with an alt tag that contains your focus keyphrase.

What does the keyphrase in image alt attributes check do?

The keyword in image alt attributes assessment in Yoast SEO checks if there are images in your post and whether these images have an alt text with the focus keyphrase. By adding an alt text, you provide users of screen readers and search engines with a textual description of what’s on that image. This improves accessibility and your chance of ranking in image search.

We’re definitely not saying you should spam your focus keyphrase into every alt tag. You need good, high quality, related images for your posts, where it makes sense to have the focus keyword in the alt text. Here’s Google’s advice on choosing a good alt text:

When choosing alt text, focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and is in context of the content of the page. Avoid filling alt attributes with keywords (keyword stuffing) as it results in a negative user experience and may cause your site to be seen as spam.

If your image is of a specific product, include both the full product name and the product ID in the alt tag so that it can be more easily found. In general: if a keyphrase could be useful for finding something that is on the image, include it in the alt tag if you can. Also, don’t forget to change the image file name to be something actually describing what’s on it.

Assessment scores

If your content has more than 4 images, you’ll only get a green bullet if the percentage of images with the keyphrase in the alt text falls within 30 and 70%. When you use the keyphrase in more than 70% of your images, your bullet will turn orange to prevent you from keyword stuffing. If you have Yoast SEO Premium, the plugin will also take synonyms you’ve added to your keyphrase into account.

alt and title attributes in WordPress

When you upload an image to WordPress, you can set a title and an alt attribute. By default, it uses the image filename in the title attribute. And if you don’t enter an alt attribute, it copies that to the alt attribute. While this is better than writing nothing, it’s pretty poor practice. You really need to take the time to craft a proper alt text for every image you add to a post. Users and search engines will thank you for it.

How to add alt attributes in WordPress

WordPress makes it really easy to add alt attributes. Follow the steps below to add them to your images. There’s no excuse for not doing this right. Your (image) SEO will truly benefit if you get these tiny details right. Visually challenged users will also like you all the more for it.

1. Log in to your WordPress website.When you’re logged in, you will be in your ‘Dashboard’.
2. Open the post or page to edit the content.
3. Click on the Image block to open the Image settings in the Block tab of the sidebar.You will see the Image settings appear in the Block tab of the sidebar.
4. Add the alt text and the title attribute.
5. Click ‘Update’.Click the ‘Update’ button in the upper right corner.

Read more about image SEO

We have a very popular (and longer) article about Image SEO. That post goes into a ton of different ways to optimize images but is relatively lacking in detail when it comes to alt and title tags — think of this as an add-on to that article. I recommend reading it when you’re done here.