WordPress offers a simple, powerful blogging platform that is easy to use and understand. However, not all WordPress users are able to access it as easily as others. Some people have disabilities or mental issues that make their life difficult when using the web. Ten of the best plugins for WordPress accessibility will help them overcome these hurdles so they can enjoy everything else about this great website.
The “free wordpress accessibility plugin” is a free plugin that can help disabled users. This article will discuss 10 best WordPress accessibility plugins in 2022.
Today, I’ll show you how to use WordPress accessibility plugins to increase the accessibility of your website for individuals with impairments.
When building a website, accessibility is sometimes disregarded. However, as you’ll see, it’s critical for a variety of reasons.
A Few Words on Disabilities
Disability is a sensitive topic for many people. Even the phrase “handicapped” raises eyebrows, since it is seen as contentious and undiplomatic. Unfortunately, I will be using it in this post since it is still widely used, even though I am aware that alternative terminology such as ‘differently abled’ are now in use.
Unfortunately, some individuals feel that “you can’t satisfy everyone all of the time.” They believe that only the masses should be served, and that the handicapped should be neglected since they are a minority. That is a terribly self-centered perspective of view. People can not select their impairments, and anybody, at any moment, may become impaired due to no fault of their own.
You won’t truly appreciate how difficult life can be for individuals with disabilities until you have one yourself or are close to someone who does.
I make no claim to be an expert on the subject. I’m fortunate in that I don’t have any additional disabilities save my age-related bad vision. Misha, my niece, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 30. She can no longer walk more than a few feet or talk correctly, and she requires full-time assistance to do simple duties like as showering or dressing.
Misha has shown me how tough life can be for the less abled, and how irritating it can be for them to do simple activities that we take for granted. She is now more dependant on her computer and phone for communication than she has ever been, despite the fact that utilizing them is typically a major challenge.
My point is that you should be aware of who could be visiting your website and make it as user-friendly as feasible.
What is Website Accessibility?
In layman’s terms, website accessibility entails:
- ensuring that your website is accessible to everyone, including persons with impairments, or
- It’s being optimized so that as many people as possible can utilize it.
When evaluating your website’s accessibility, the most important thing to ask is whether or not persons with blindness, limited vision, hearing loss, diminished motor skills, or other impairments can use it.
The following is the rest of the article.
Remember that impairments aren’t always visible, especially if they aren’t labeled as such. Many individuals, for example, suffer from rheumatoid arthritis in their hands, which makes using a keyboard or mouse difficult.
Why Is It Important to Make Your Website Accessible?
It’s time to face facts: if your website isn’t accessible, you might find yourself in court.
A blind guy brought Domino’s Pizza to court in one high-profile instance. Guillermo Robles claimed he couldn’t purchase pizza online via Domino’s, and the court agreed with him. The monetary compensation was not significant, but the legal fees were.
Cases like Robles vs. Domino’s Pizza have far-reaching consequences for website owners all throughout the world. People are now aware that if a website is unavailable to them, they may have a viable case, and the result of actions like these has created a precedent.
As a consequence, accessibility-related lawsuits are on the rise, with 814 ADA Title III Website Accessibility Lawsuits filed in Federal Court in 2017 up to 2,523 in 2020. That, in my opinion, is a positive thing since it signals a much-needed shift in views toward persons with disabilities.
The laws around website accessibility are complicated and occasionally ambiguous. I’m not a lawyer, therefore I won’t go into detail here. The issue, however, is well-covered on the internet. I recommend reading HubSpot’s “A Web Accessibility Checklist to Make Your Content 100% Compliant,” which outlines some of the standards and requirements and proposes what your website should include to be compliant.
Whether you want to see if your site is compliant, use the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool, which is available for free.
How to Use a WordPress Accessibility Plugin to Make Your Website Compliant
WordPress as a platform is evolving, and it is now more accessible to persons with disabilities in certain ways. It isn’t flawless, and websites built using it aren’t guaranteed to be totally compatible.
Because WordPress is open-source, one approach is to use code to increase accessibility. However, for those who do not know how to code, this is not a viable option, especially considering the high cost of hiring a developer.
Accessibility plugins for WordPress, on the other hand, may help increase a website’s accessibility. These add more accessibility features to your website. This goes a long way toward ensuring that the site does not discriminate against anybody and adheres as closely as feasible with relevant laws and rules.
The following are some of the most common characteristics of WordPress accessibility plugins:
- Readers for the screen (text-to-speech)
- Speech-to-text conversion, for example, uses voice recognition.
- Epilepsy is not dangerous.
- Alt text detection isn’t working.
- Resizing the font
- Adjusting the color contrast
- Underlining of hyperlinks
- Checks for concerns with accessibility
- Links that open in new windows or tabs should be avoided.
Please keep in mind that there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” accessibility plugin. As a result, to make your site completely accessible to everyone, you may need to use a mix of plugins or other solutions.
Accessibility Plugins for WordPress
The 10 accessibility plugins listed below may be installed on your WordPress site. There are some that will assist you in adding features to improve accessibility and others that will analyze your site for flaws. There are also free and premium choices available.
Checker for Accessibility
Checker for Accessibility is a plugin for identifying accessibility problems on WordPress sites and checking for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance.
Because the plugin incorporates comparable functionality immediately into your WordPress dashboard, you won’t need to utilize the external WAVE tool I described previously. As a consequence, you can easily check accessibility for specific pieces of content without ever leaving WordPress.
Furthermore, when the plugin detects problems, it proposes appropriate solutions.
Please take a few moments to read WPLift’s full review of Checker for Accessibility.
Pros
- Scanners that run automatically on both published and draft material
- The free edition lets you scan an infinite number of posts and pages, and reports are shown on the edit screen.
- Paid versions come with a slew of additional scanning and reporting tools.
- Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 508, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content
- Documentation in great detail
- On premium programs, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Cons
- Only the commercial versions of the software allow for full site scans.
Price
- The core Checker for Accessibility plugin is free. Prices of the paid version range from $15-$180 per month, depending on the number of sites you need to cover (maximum of 25 before special pricing is required.) If you purchase an annual plan, the monthly cost reduces to $12-$150.
Get Checker for Accessibility
Accessibility with a Single Click
Accessibility with a Single Click is another free WordPress plugin that, like Accessibility in WordPress, enhances your site with accessibility features it may otherwise lack. The most notable one is the accessibility toolbar which you can add to your pages. This gives users access to tools like Resizing the font, grayscale, negative and high contrast, light background, and more.
You can also add skip links and highlight the emphasis for focusable components, much like with Accessibility in WordPress.
Pros
- Free of charge
- A useful feature is the accessibility toolbar.
- A useful bundle of features
Cons
- Some people are perplexed by the enable/disable interface.
Price
- Accessibility with a Single Click is a free plugin with no premium options available.
Get Accessibility with a Single Click
Accessibility in WordPress
Accessibility in WordPress does not claim to make your website fully compatible with accessibility regulations or guidelines. In all honesty, no single plugin can do that. However, it fills some of the accessibility ‘gaps’ inherent in WordPress themes. Best of all, no specialist knowledge is needed to do it.
This free plugin offers a lot of functions that may be activated or removed separately. For example, skip links that display only when prompted by the keyboard or an assistive device may be included, enabling users to skip over extraneous text.
Other useful features include the ability to add post titles to’read more’ links, a tool for identifying photos with missing alt attributes, and the ability to add an outline to the keyboard focus state for focusable items to improve visibility.
Pros
- A free approach to add a variety of accessibility features to themes that don’t come with them out of the box.
- Reports in great detail
- A useful bundle of features
- A development team that is proactive and helpful
Cons
Price
- Accessibility in WordPress is It is Free of charge..
Get Accessibility in WordPress
Accessibility in WordPress Helper
Accessibility in WordPress Helper is a freemium WordPress plugin with great functionality, even the free version. It includes a Document Object Model (DOM) scanner to check your posts and pages for accessibility issues, plus an impressive array of tools to help you fix them.
Both the free and Pro versions include features like Resizing the font, skip links, animation removal, link underlining, and sortable widgets. The Pro upgrade adds plenty more, including visibility settings, Polylang support, shortcodes, a small bar with settings for contrast, font resize, and greyscale, plus a web speech API
Pros
- There are several helpful features in the free version.
- Both the free and paid versions check for problems with accessibility.
- For text-to-speech, there’s an online speech API (Pro only)
- Profiles of ADHD, visual impairment, and cognitive disability (Pro only)
- Video lessons are included in the documentation.
- Given the additional features, Pro is a solid buy.
Cons
- There have been several concerns about the Pro version’s lack of support.
- With Pro plans, there is no free trial or money-back guarantee.
Price
- The Accessibility in WordPress Helper core plugin is free. However, Pro upgrades cost $199 per year for one domain, rising to $1,819 per year for ten sites.
Get Accessibility in WordPress Helper
AccessibleWP Toolbar is a simple WordPress plugin that adds an accessibility toolbar to your website. Users will then have access to a variety of accessibility settings, including keyboard navigation (with increased keyboard capabilities), animation disablement, font resizing, dark contrast, title and link marking, and more.
Pros
- It’s simple, yet it adds an accessibility toolbar to your website.
- Free of charge
Cons
- The settings do not carry over from page to page.
Price
- The AccessibleWP Toolbar is a free download.
AccessFont Resizer by ZenosibleWP Toolbar is available for download.
Font Resizer by Zeno
Font Resizer by Zeno is a basic but nonetheless useful plugin for allowing visually impaired users to adjust the font size of text on your WordPress site.
To change the font size, this free plugin utilizes JavaScript and jQuery. The font size preferences of visitors are recorded in a cookie, so when they return, the fonts will automatically adjust to their preferences. Just make sure your website abides by cookie legislation!
Pros
- It is Free of charge.
- It’s possible to control which content visitors may resize.
- You may use the widget on its own or insert the code into your theme if you’re more tech-savvy.
Cons
Price
- Font Resizer by Zeno is a free plugin.
Get Font Resizer by Zeno
Bulk Auto Image Alt Text BIALTY
Many individuals forget to include ALT text when they upload photographs to their websites. I used to feel completely guilty because I had no idea what it was. In a nutshell, ALT text is used by Reader for the screens to inform blind or visually impaired people about the contents of a picture. When it comes to accessibility, this is critical.
If you only have a few images on your website, it’s not a huge deal to go back and add the necessary ALT text. However, it will be a significant headache if you have tons of pictures to do. This is where Bulk Auto Image Alt Text BIALTY can help.
Bulk Auto Image Alt Text BIALTY is a free WordPress accessibility plugin with one sole purpose – automatically generate and add ALT attributes to images that don’t have them. To do that, the plugin uses post titles and focus keywords.
Machine-generated texts’ sole drawback is that they may not be as excellent or detailed as those created by humans. They are, nonetheless, preferable than nothing.
Pros
- It is Free of charge.
- Allows you to quickly add missing ALT characteristics to photos.
Cons
- The ALT text created may not be ideal, but it will do until you have time to write better, more thorough words.
Price
- Bulk Auto Image Alt Text BIALTY is free. No premium option is available.
Get Bulk Auto Image Alt Text BIALTY
Reader for the screen
You’d be forgiven for assuming that Reader for the screen is only a text-to-speech plugin for WordPress that verbally reads screen content. However, it also includes a host of other accessibility features aimed at the visually impaired.
It may, for example, add high contrast rendering, an expanded cursor, a focused items outline, conceal photos, skip links, and many other features. It also has Dyslexic Font Transformation to aid dyslexics.
Pros
- High-quality text-to-speech audio
- Can read text in more than fifty languages
- The feature set is excellent.
- Strongly backed
Cons
- The free version is almost worthless, with minimal features and a text-to-speech restriction of 100 characters.
Price
- Reader for the screen costs $49 per year. A free version is available, although it’s rather pointless.
Get Reader for the screen
Basic WP ADA Compliance Check
Basic WP ADA Compliance Check is a freemium WordPress scanning plugin used to identify accessibility issues on your website.
If you merely have a tiny, low-traffic site and no money, the free version is great. It enables you to scan for 51 different sorts of errors, but you can only scan fifteen pages or posts at a time. When the scans are finished, a full report is produced.
You’ll need to upgrade to the Pro edition if you want tools to assist you solve problems discovered by the scans. You can conduct an endless number of scans for 76 different error kinds with this. Furthermore, it watches your whole site in real time and sends you an email if any mistakes arise. Finally, it contains a useful set of tools to assist you in resolving a variety of accessibility issues.
Pros
- The free version is a great method to test your posts and pages for accessibility.
- Pro is useful since it includes full-site and continuous scans, as well as a variety of tools to assist you in resolving problems.
- Video lessons are included in the documentation.
- Video lessons and an eight-hour online accessibility training course are included in the excellent documentation.
- Pro comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Cons
Price
- The core WP ADA Compliance Check plugin is available for download for free. Upgrades to Pro start at $179 for one domain per year or $565.99 for a lifetime license.
Get Basic WP ADA Compliance Check
New Window Warnings for Accessibility
I, like many others, prefer to open links to other pages or websites in a new tab. However, for persons who have trouble seeing visual material or those with cognitive problems, this might be disconcerting unless they’ve been told. Web sites must now look and behave in predictable ways, according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
New Window Warnings for Accessibility provides the necessary alerts to users. The plugin will inform them that clicking on a link will navigate them away from the current tab or window. Additionally, the plugin advises users that hitting the ‘back’ button may not work from the new tab or window.
Furthermore, New Window Warnings for Accessibility integrates with Checker for Accessibility (the first plugin in this list) as they are both from the same developer.
Pros
- Free of charge
- There is no need to set up the plugin; it will begin searching for links that open in a new tab or window as soon as it is installed and active.
- It provides a simple fix for a single accessibility problem.
Cons
- Depending on the third-party plugins on your site and the links they create, some CSS styling may be required.
Price
- New Window Warnings for Accessibility is available in the WordPress plugin directory free of charge.
Get New Window Warnings for Accessibility
A Final Thought
I hope I’ve conveyed a clear understanding of what accessibility is and why it’s so important. I also aim to have shown how WordPress accessibility plugins may assist guarantee that persons with disabilities are not excluded from your website.
I’m curious whether you’ve ever examined the accessibility of your website. If so, what problems did you find and how did you resolve them? Will you do so soon if you haven’t already, now that you’re aware of its significance?
A “userway wordpress plugin” is a WordPress accessibility plugin that allows users to create custom menus, and has a variety of other features. It is one of the 10 best WordPress accessibility plugins in 2022.
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