News

WordPress Accessibility Day – Bronze Sponsors

Posted on by Joe Dolson

As we approach our first WordPress Accessibility Day this week, we are grateful to our many sponsors who helped make this possible. We trust you will visit their blogs to learn more about each one. Continuing reading to learn about these fabulous five Bronze sponsors:

Rocket Validator

Simplifying Large Site Accessibility Validations

Example Rocket Validator report output showing 71% HTML checks passed and 34% accessibility checks passed

How much time and effort are you investing for A11Y & HTML compliance?

Do you need to validate a large site with hundreds or thousands of pages?  Now there is a faster and more efficient Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool to improve your development process with Rocket Validator!

Rocket Validator makes site-wide accessibility validation easy and fast. The days of validating HTML 5 one page at a time are over! Rocket Validator automates scraping large sites, making it as simple as submitting a starting URL and clicking a button. Their web spider will find internal web pages, check each one using Deque Axe Core and W3C HTML Validator, producing a detailed report in seconds. 

Convenient Features

Convenient features allow you to create a better product to impress your clients. They also improve your development process by finding accessibility and HTML issues in your large sites, in seconds:

  • Error Reporting
  • Scheduled reports
  • Muting Option
  • API Integrations

Rocket Validator is beneficial for increasing your workflow for 

  • Large site validations
  • Scheduled validations
  • Accessibility checking
  • Deploy hooks
  • HTML validation
  • API integration

Rocket Validator takes accessibility and HTML markup validation just as seriously as you do by adhering to WCAG accessibility guidelines, including Section 508 – issues are detected using the latest versions of Deque Axe Core and W3C Validator. To date, they have validated over 4,000,000 web pages and caught over 95,000,000 accessibility and HTML issues.

Special Offer

To get started, learn more about Rocket Validator’s special offer for a 50% lifetime discount on the Pro monthly subscription on their accessibility site-wide checker.  This offer is valid for those subscribing to Pro Monthly before October 5th.  The reduced price is valid for as long as the subscription is active.

Follow Rocket Validator on their social media channels and visit their website:

Visit the Rocket Validator website

Follow Rocket Validator on Twitter

Follow Rocket Validator on Facebook

Check their documentation site to learn about all their features.

CodeGeek - Crafting the Responsive Web

How Much Does It Cost To Make My Website Accessible?

The CodeGeek team posing for a silly photo in a park in Fort Collins, Colorado

Hi! We’re CodeGeek, and we’re a team of Geeks in Fort Collins, Colorado, specializing in custom website design and development.

We often get asked: How much will it cost to make my website accessible?

That’s a super complex question, and our answer is based on some key factors.

#1: How conformant do you want your website to be?

One of the most commonly followed guidelines for website accessibility are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1). There are three levels of conformance: Level A (easiest), Level AA and Level AAA. 

#2: How much work is involved?

The most-commonly desired conformance level is Level AA, and there are 38 guidelines that must be met.

Some guidelines are simpler to implement than others:

  • alt text for images
  • proper HTML structure and labels for form elements
  • logical page markup

Some guidelines are more complex:

  • all site functionality available via keyboard
  • captions for audio content
  • keyboard controls to pause, stop or hide sliders

#3: Who will make sure your site remains accessible? 

The ultimate goal is to make your website usable for the largest number of people possible—and keep it that way over time.

  • Many guidelines are content related, so your content editors need to receive quality conformance training.
  • Performing regular usability testing is also a must.

(By the by, the Geeks can help with both!)

So, how much will it cost me to make my website accessible?

To make a simple-to-moderately-sized website Level AA conformant, we often estimate 30% of the total cost for the design and build process.

This can vary depending on the complexity of your site, but it’s a good starting point for a meaningful discussion.

We love to learn, and if you’d like to keep geeking out with us, join us via Facebook, LinkedIn and our newsletter The Geek Beat.

Accessible Web Design

Accessibility Plug-Ins

WP Accessibility plug-in banner; figures representing a link, image, person using wheelchair

Joe Dolson is one of the authoritative voices in Accessibility. In addition to being the Lead Organizer for WordPress Accessibility Day 2020, he is a WordPress Plug-In developer, a web accessibility consultant, speaks on web accessibility and is a WordPress Accessibility Community member who is dedicated to improving accessibility in the WordPress ecosystem.

When not making the world more accessible, Joe develops WordPress Plug-ins, which he started building in 2008, from web development and consulting from 2004, with more focus on Accessibility. 

WordPress Plugins & Accessibility

Joe saw a need for software that could serve key web site needs in a manner accessible for users (both on the admin and public side) who had disabilities. Identifying, assessing the Accessibility, and trusting that a plug-in would remain accessible was surprisingly challenging – so writing his own seemed to be the most efficient task.

Though Joe hasn’t published every plug-in he’s developed, many are now publically available. As Plug-in usage grew, he realized that plug-ins’ maintenance had become an overwhelming part of his daily work. Therefore Joe chose to develop premium add-ons to his plug-ins, which are available on his website. Plug-In purchases help him continue to work on his plug-ins; donations go to support core work on WordPress and free accessibility plug-ins:

In addition to his Plug-Ins, Joe provides the following Accessibility services: 

  • Web Accessibility Services
  • Custom Software Development
  • Accessibility Seminars & Lectures
  • Accessibility Strategy & Planning
  • Accessibility Testing and Compliance Analysis

Beyond Plug-Ins

In addition to his contributions to the Accessibility world, Joe is a classically trained violinist, playing with (and on the board of) the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra. He also practices Shotokan Karate, English & Scottish Country Dancing.

You can learn more about Joe and sign up for updates on his website. Follow Joe on Facebook and Twitter. See Joe’s WordPress Accessibility projects at Access Monitor and WP Accessibility.

Bet Hannon Business Websites

Accessibility Challenge Accepted and Won!

WordPress accessibility symbol surrounded by cooking utensils and ingredients; Bet Hannon Business Websites

Bet Hannon Business Websites is a woman-owned agency with over five decades of combined experience in web development. Over the past ten years, the team has overseen websites and engaging campaigns for small to mid-sized non-profits, educational institutions, blogs (recipe blogs and others), e-commerce sites and faith-based organizations.

An Accessibility Challenge

This team initially had a basic awareness of web accessibility through attending WordCamps and Meetups.  When an existing government client who used their administrative services, became aware of new California Accessibility legislation that impacted their WordPress website, the team was tasked with and inspired to dive deeper into their Accessibility journey. 

They worked together with their client Westlands Water District, to redevelop the site to bring it into ADA/Section 508 compliance.  That project ignited their passion for web accessibility. Since then, the entire team has taken extra training to hone their accessibility skill sets to build accessibility into every project.

Sampling Accessibility Audit

Bet Hannon offers a more affordable option than a full audit to help businesses begin their accessibility journey.  Their “Sampling Accessibility Audit” reviews overall basic accessibility issues in the theme, along with a site-owner selected list of pages/posts, which is typically a good representation of all the templates and layouts involved.

This Sample Audit does not identify every single issue in a site, but rather provides a fairly good idea of the issues that need to be addressed. It’s often important to have a real human being testing the accessibility of sites and their content, rather than just relying on an automated check of your site utilizing online tools.  A one-hour consultation is included which explains the audit and issues.  

Bet Hannon Business Websites is offering a $50 discount on sampling audits for businesses through WP A11y Day. Learn more on how to redeem this special offer. 

The Bet Hannon Accessibility Commitment

Designing with accessibility in mind for all clients is the agency’s top priority. Those with visual, cognitive, and motor skill challenges deserve a functioning website and their goal is to make that possible with websites that meet or exceed WACG 2.1 AA standards upon delivery.

nerdpress

Taking the Stress out of Technical Issues

nerdpress with confetti

Running a website can be a tricky, complicated business. Many things can go wrong, especially on the technical side. In addition to supporting WordPress Accessibility Day, NerdPress provides support and maintenance for WordPress site owners, including entrepreneurs, small businesses, and publishers.

Freedom from Website Anxiety

NerdPress clients no longer stress about their website because the NerdPress team takes over the boring, tedious (and sometimes terifying) tasks of managing their WordPress sites. They carefully developed their WordPress Support, and Maintenance Plans to save time to eliminate the frustration of running a WordPress site. These plans reduce website anxiety to focus on what you do best – running your business! 

NerdPress provides peace of mind by setting up:

  • Multiple backups
  • Regular updates
  • Uptime monitoring
  • Firewall protection
  • Speed optimization
  • Accessibility corrections
  • …and more!

Accessibility Plug-In for Alt Tags

Their support plans include support requests, which can also be used to correct minor accessibility issues — such as fixing font contrast, underlining links, or removing animated sliders. 

NerdPress is very proud of creating their new plugin, Alt Text tools, to rave reviews, a free plugin available in the repository. It provides a CSV (comma separated values) file that lists all of the content’s images on a site and their corresponding Alt attribute. The plugin makes it easy to identify all the images that are missing (or have incorrect) Alt Text. 

Values and Experience

NerdPress maintains long-term relationships with its clients using “real people” language, not confusing jargon and tech-speak. Their core values of support and proactivity are at the heart of everything they do, which speaks to having clients for as long as eighteen years. Their wide range of experience supporting hundreds of sites proves that they are a trusted partner to help you succeed. 

Founder Andrew Wilder is a noted expert in both the culinary and technical fields, having spoken on various topics for conferences such as WordCamp LAX, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Tastemaker, Food & Wine, Techmunch, and BlogHer. When not geeking out on technology and growing his team, you can read his popular food blog Eating Rules.

Meet AmericanEagle.com

American Eagle offices
Posted on by Joe Dolson

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. 

One developer’s first-hand experience taking the CPACC exam

Posted on by Joe Dolson

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. 

Introduction to Web Accessibility Courses

A11y Collective Certificate hanging on a wall (illustration)
Posted on by Joe Dolson

Impacting Digital Accessibility

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.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Accessibility

Posted on by Joe Dolson

In celebration of their 16th 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 8th, 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 16th Anniversary Webinar on Thursday, October 8th. 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?”

Go Pro with GoDaddy Pro

Posted on by Joe Dolson

Breaking Down Accessibility Barriers

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 

Image SEO alt tag and title tag optimization

Yoast: SEO for everyone
Posted on by Joe Dolson

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

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.

image alt attributes assessment

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.Image settings WordPress
  4. Add the alt text and the title attribute.Adding an alt tag in WordPress
  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.

Here they are! The last round of speakers for WP Accessibility Day 2020!

Posted on by Joe Dolson

Can you believe that we’ve now announced all the great speakers for WP Accessibility Day? Well – coming soon: the grand and complete schedule for the whole event!

We’re really looking forward to sharing all the great material our speakers have to share with you – but for now, get to know everybody!

Martin Stehle

Martin Stehle

Consultant, tester, speaker and trainer for web accessibility since
1999; contributor for the WCAG 2.0 and the german BITV 2.0; winner, expert and juror of the former german competition for accessible websites; WordPress Core contributor since 2010, graduated computer scientist for digital media since 1996.

Dana Frayne

Dana Frayne

Dana is a postgraduate student at the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute, where she studies the practical implications of international digital accessibility policies and guidelines. She also works as a freelance digital accessibility consultant, with one of her most recent clients being the American Civil Liberties Union. Prior to working as an accessibility consultant, Dana worked on accessibility projects at the Obama White House and Facebook, and she plans to continue her research on digital accessibility with a Fulbright research grant to Morocco next year.

Dylan Wages

Dylan Wages is a freelance WordPress designer/developer for over 15 years. He solves design problems for his clients by helping them simplify ideas and communicate their stories. Currently, he is consulting businesses and non-profits to develop accessible materials on and off-line.

Sumner Davenport

Sumner Davenport

Sumner Davenport specializes in Web Accessibility on WordPress. Her passion is to educate business owners and web designers using WordPress on the increased value and ease of an Accessible site. Through her long-standing organization, she and her team have built, maintained, evaluated and remediated dozens of WordPress websites to WCAG 2.1 success criterion. Her clients are referred by other clients and from attorneys. She is active in accessibility and legal conferences and educational venues. At  WordCamps and local WordPress groups she  regularly speaks on topics related to compliance issues for WordPress. After presenting at WordCamp SantaClarita (WCSCV) 2019, she volunteered to be the Speaker Wrangler for WordCamp SantaClarita 2020 and is on the Speaker Wrangler team for WordCamp LAX 2020. She and two colleagues founded a local Meetup to discuss WordPress and accessibility and have invited renowned speakers on Accessibility topics to be the guest presenters. Partnering with two other local Meetup organizers, they organized the first annual Mega Meetup WordPress Accessibility Day 2020. She is a member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and an active supporter of various disability organizations.

Nick Goodrum

Nick Goodrum

Nick Goodrum has been working in the front-end development world for over ten years growing and improving his code with modern techniques and best practices. During that journey, he found a deep passion in the world of usability and accessibility. At Americaneagle.com, which is a full-service digital agency that handles many platforms including WordPress, he grew into the position of Director of Front-End Development and Accessibility. In that role he is a strong advocate to developers, clients, and beyond on making accessibility a normality rather than an afterthought.

Merary Alvarado

Merary Alvarado

Software Engineer and Accessibility Evangelist with 6+ years of proven experience in executing, development and leading Accessibility processes in digital strategies for Fortune 100 clients. Subject Matter Expert contributions on Accessibility by establishing guidelines, best practices, and standards related to designing and maintaining accessible websites and other digital products.

Active participation and collaboration on PwD communities for over a decade. Cross collaboration to create national standards and digital best practices to be applicable across Costa Rica public and private services to create accessible digital, educational and physical environments to improve their independent living.

Co-Lead of the Accessibility Web Costa Rica (public group in Facebook) developing digital content, training, conferences, events, webinars, etc. focusing in Spanish language to create awareness about the importance of talking about Accessibility in the digital era. 

Leading Latin America strategies together with other A11y communities in terms to create better job opportunities, accessibility specializations and promote inclusiveness for entrepreneurs.

Finally, I’m part of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) as a certified member.

WP Accessibility Day Speakers: Round 3!

Posted on by Joe Dolson

Can you believe it? Only one more post to go after you finish reading about these great speakers! And then…the schedule!

We can hardly believe how soon WP Accessibility Day is – only a little over two weeks until show time! We look forward to seeing you there!

Abha Thakor

Abha Thakor

Abha is an experienced communicator, journalist, researcher and digital professional working in a variety of sectors. She has specialisms in new technology, content development, knowledge management, and cross-cultural working and inclusion. In 2020 she was made a Fellow of the international Chartered Institute of Public Relations in recognition of her work bridging technology and communications and in promoting inclusion.

She is a member of the Advisory Board for ‘We and AI’, which promotes awareness of artificial intelligence. She is a contributor to a number of WordPress teams including Marketing (team rep), WordPress.tv and Core, and is a WordCamp and Meetup co-organizer. She has led a number of projects aimed at improving accessibility and inclusion in the community, and promoting diversity, including co-lead for a cross-team Subtitling campaign and Communications Lead for WordPress Translation Day.

She is also CPD-Lead for a number of professional organizations and writes on technology, AI and machine learning. She has a particular interest in developing approaches to greater inclusion for adults with learning disabilities and cognitive diversity. She is delighted to have been invited to speak at the first ever WordPress Accessibility Day and looks forward to sharing the time with friends old and new in the WP community.

Jerry Jones

Jerry Jones

I am a generalist developer with 10+ years experience who builds products as accessibly as I can. I work at Automattic.

Raghavendra Satish

Raghavendra Satish

Raghavendra Satish Peri is a digital accessibility evangelist working at Deque Systems as Senior Accessibility Consultant breaking web accessibility & mobile accessibility challenges. He authors an Accessibility Blog & is galvanizing the adoption of accessibility by inspiring the local tech community with meetups and mentorship. He propelled this thought by founding HelloA11y, a community of accessibility professionals, developers and enthusiasts. When away from his computer, Raghava can be found at local cafes & restaurants sampling cuisines, attending local meetups, listening to audio books or writing on his Personal Blog. Raghavendra Satish Peri also helps small business & individuals with Digital Marketing Trainings & SEO consulting… He has been building websites & doing SEO Consulting for more than 14 years.

Sheri Byrne-Haber

Sheri Byrne-Haber

Sheri Byrne-Haber is a prominent global subject matter expert in the fields of disability and accessibility in the business and educational settings.  She is best known for launching digital accessibility programs at multiple Fortune 200 companies, including McDonald’s, Albertsons, and VMware, as well as consulting on government accessibility.  Her programs have positively impacted millions of the more than 1 billion global people with disabilities.  The accessibility program created by Sheri is part of the same group that created Clarity, one of the few open source accessible design systems available.

Sheri is the author of a popular Medium blog called “This Week in Accessibility,” where she summarizes legal cases and issues facing people implementing accessibility programs.  This Week in Accessibility has had over 150,000 readers since its launch.  Sheri is a frequent panelist and speaker at accessibility related conferences and an active member of several accessibility committees and non-profits, helping drive and communicate the evolution of accessibility standards.

Sheri’s book on strategic accessibility and establishing accessibility programs titled “Find Your Accessibility Compass” will be published in February 2021.

Adam Berkowitz

Adam Berkowitz

Hi! I’m Adam and I’m a web developer at the University of Connecticut (UConn). In my role at the Office of University Communications, I specialize in WordPress application development and web accessibility. I’ve also been on accessibility and diversity committees at UConn. These include UConn’s Information and Communication Technology Task Force and University Communications Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force. When I’m not working, I enjoy reading, martial arts, and spending time with my family.

Colleen Gratzer

Colleen Gratzer

Colleen Gratzer is an award-winning designer with 23 years of experience in branding, print, and web design and development. Four of those years include being an accessibility specialist.

She has provided InDesign accessibility training to the U.S. Department of the Interior, appeared on several podcasts and given presentations about website accessibility.

Her client-based business, Gratzer Graphics, provides design and accessibility services to nonprofits, creative firms and developers.

Through Creative Boost, she hosts the Design Domination podcast; educates designers and developers about freelancing issues, design and the importance of accessibility; and offers a website accessibility
course and other resources.

She is a member of the IAAP, the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, and holds a verified certificate of achievement for introductory website accessibility from W3C, with plans to pursue additional certifications.

Wow! It’s another round of speaker announcements!

Posted on by Joe Dolson

If you’re not excited yet, I hope these speakers do a lot to help encourage you in that direction! Every day we creep a little closer towards the first WP Accessibility Day event, and these generous speakers are an enormous part of what’s making that reality.

Here’s another batch of six speakers to whet your anticipation!

Darice de Cuba

Darice de Cuba

Darice is a web developer and blog writer for the independent news magazine and website of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Where she most enjoys writing a blog, brainstorming with the team about the editorial, working on new designs, optimize pages and maintaining and improving the WordPress website.

Being late deaf which gives her a unique insight into inclusive design. She likes to write down her musings on her website. She loves to explore the food scene in her hometown The Hague in The Netherlands. She’s keeping track of cool places she finds in her food guide.

Chip Edwards

Chip Edwards

Chip is a partner at CreateMyVoice.com. He helps content producers engage audiences on Smart Speakers like Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Chip is a teacher, speaker, and technologist who is passionate about connecting WordPress content to the new Voice Technology platforms.

Rian Rietveld

Rian Rietveld

Rian Rietveld is a web accessibility specialist at the full-service WordPress agency Level Level and a trainer at the A11Y Collective.

Accessibility is important to her, everyone should be able to use the web.

Her mission is to educate everyone involved in a web project to create a web that works for all.

She lives in a pretty little town near The Hague in the Netherlands. When not reviewing, teaching or coding, you can find her working in her garden.

Calum Ryan

Calum Ryan

Calum is an accessibility consultant for dxw, helping the public sector make their websites more accessible.

His background is in front-end web development and user interface design, having worked in the web industry for around ten years.

Graham Armfield

Graham Armfield

Graham is a Web Accessibility Consultant with his own company Coolfields Consulting. He works with organisations to help them improve the accessibility of their websites – testing the websites for accessibility, and advising the designers and developers on how to fix issues found. He has written detailed training courses on accessibility for developers which he presents on a regular basis.

He’s also a WordPress developer, and has built many accessible WordPress websites for clients – both large and small. He has contributed to the Make WordPress Accessible Team and has spoken on accessibility to many WordCamps and other WordPress meetups.

Susanna Laurin

Chief Research and Innovation Officer at Funka

Susanna Laurin
Photo by Stefan Bohlin

Susanna Laurin has more than 20 years experience in working strategically with accessibility at senior management level.

As an internationally acknowledged expert in EU accessibility policy and regulations, Susanna regularly performs training and practical workshops with procurement officials based on the methodology she has developed on the basis of the EN-standard and the European Procurement Directive. Since the first version of the EN-standard was published in 2015, she has been focusing on procurement, touring in many European countries within and outside of the European Union, as well as in South America and Australia.

Susanna has also developed and published a series of instructive videos around how to use the EN-standard, sponsored by Microsoft and published under creative commons license.

Susanna is often assigned at strategic policy level on behalf of national governments, studies and investigations all over the world. She is assigned as an expert to the European Commission and the Member States representatives during the transposition of the Web Accessibility Directive, chairing the group focusing on monitoring methodology in the Subgroup of WADex. With a long experience in national and international standardisation work, she is a technical expert to ETSI in the Special Task Force 536, working on assignment by the European Commission to make the EN301549 into a harmonised European standard to cover the mobile requirements of the Web Accessibility Directive.

Susanna leads the Research and Innovation department at Funka, successfully covering around 20% of the company turn over with funding from various financial research instruments. She takes responsibility for major and international assignments for the European Commission, and a number of national governments in the member states especially focusing on transposition and implementation of the Web Accessibility Directive. Susanna is responsible for Funka’s close cooperation with end user organisations in all markets.

Susanna has published several white papers published by the European Accessibility Forum, G3ict, Funka and others on accessible design, accessible procurement, accessible MOOCs, the business case for accessibility, employment of disabled persons etc.

Susanna is chairman of the Funka Foundation, created by the company Funka to be able to perform not for profit assignments on inclusion and with a specific focus on employment of persons with disabilities. She is the Vice Chair of the Global Leadership Council of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, IAAP, an international member organisation that was co-founded by Funka, and joint representative to the EU for the UN-initiative G3ict and IAAP as well as the Managing Director of the first local chapter IAAP Nordic, covering Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. She is an expert and advisor, both for Swedish Standards Institute and Standards Norway, and furthermore served as technical expert for Mandate 376, that on behalf for the EC developed harmonised requirements for accessibility in public procurement in all EU member states. Susanna was moreover over all responsible for the authorised translation of WCAG 2.0 into Swedish that Funka carried out on behalf of W3C.

During 2003-2019, Susanna has been the CEO of Funka. Since March 2019, she is now focusing on her own strategic assignments for the European Commission and national governments as the Chief Research and Innovation Officer. Before starting at Funka, she was working as the CEO of one of the subsidiaries of the Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired’s corporate group IRIS, and she has been managing external funding and projects at the Swedish Independent Living Institute. She is a frequent international lecturer and debater and she serves on a number of program committees for conferences in the field of accessibility.