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The internet is not the same for everyone. It has become quite challenging for publishers to create a fully accessible experience for users with disabilities. A report by WebAIM published in 2022 states that people with disabilities can only access 3% of the internet. The solution for this is a WordPress accessibility plugin.
Accessibility plugins are often used as quick fixes to make websites accessible without making the necessary changes to the underlying code. This results in an optimal experience for users with disabilities who may have difficulty accessing your content.
“Website accessibility is not just a legal requirement but also a moral responsibility.”
Does accessibility affect publishers as well? Well, for starters, websites that are not fully accessible may negatively impact website traffic. Users with disabilities may have difficulty navigating the website or accessing content, leading to a loss of traffic and potential readers.
Many people with disabilities, such as visual, auditory, or physical impairments, rely on assistive technologies to access and navigate websites. In countries like the US and EU, websites have legal requirements to meet certain accessibility standards to ensure that individuals with disabilities have equal access to online content and services. Failing to comply with accessibility guidelines can lead to legal consequences besides negatively impacting the user experience and brand reputation.
Accessibility plugins can be useful for publishers who want to ensure that their websites meet accessibility standards but may not have the technical expertise or resources to do so on their own.
Impact of Accessibility Plugins on SEO
- Accessibility plugins make your website more accessible, thus attracting more visitors, which can help increase its search engine ranking.
- Accessibility compliance is a ranking factor. Search engines prioritize websites that are accessible to all users. Inaccessible websites can be penalized by search engines, which can hurt search engine ranking.
- Many accessibility plugins help to optimize website performance by reducing the size of images, improving website speed, and improving website code.
- Accessibility plugins can help to improve website usability by providing alternative text for images, improving navigation, and making the website easier to use.
- Most plugins include social media sharing buttons, which can encourage visitors to share content from the website on social media platforms. This can lead to increased traffic to the website, which can improve search engine ranking.
Can Accessibility Plugins Help Improve User Experience?
Accessibility plugins are known for ultimately improving the user experience by improving website navigation and ease of information discovery. But how exactly do accessibility plugins affect the UX of the website?
For example, some accessibility plugins can provide alternative text descriptions for images, which can be read by screen readers and provide information about the image for visually impaired users. This can make the website more inclusive and easier to navigate for those with visual impairments.
Also, these plugins can improve keyboard accessibility, which can benefit users with mobility or dexterity impairments. A few accessibility plugins may enable users to resize the font or change the website's color scheme, which can improve readability for users with visual impairments or dyslexia. Some plugins can also provide captions or transcripts for audio and video content, making it accessible for users with hearing impairments.
Factors to Consider While Choosing Accessibility Plugins
There are many accessibility plugins available today which can make it confusing for publishers to choose the right one. Here are the factors you must consider when choosing a plugin.
- Features: The plugin you choose should offer a set of accessibility features such as alternative text for images, keyboard navigation, and screen reader support.
- Compatibility: Ensure that the plugin is compatible with your WordPress theme and other plugins.
- User interface: Choose a plugin that has a user-friendly interface for ease of use.
- Support and documentation: Check the plugin’s support and documentation to ensure you can get help when needed.
- Reviews and ratings: Look for plugins with high ratings and positive reviews from other users.
- Cost: Consider the plugin's cost and whether it fits your budget.
List of Must have Accessibility Plugins for WordPress
Accessibility Toolbar by Online ADA
This plugin adds an accessibility toolbar to your website, which includes options for resizing text, changing contrast, and more. The toolbar is specially built for visually impaired users by using text-to-speech and accessible focus indicators that drastically improve site navigation for them. It also offers multiple font family options to choose from, the ability to highlight links on your website for easier navigation, keyboard navigation, and screen reader support for the visually impaired. Accessibility Toolbar Pro is available for a single license starting at $10.
Accessible News Ticker
This plugin allows you to display breaking news or other important information in an accessible news ticker. It is a news ticker/scroller widget that helps publishers display posts and RSS with accessible javascript. It offers features such as appropriate color contrast between text and background, keyboard navigation and support for screen readers, pause and resume buttons for users who need extra time to read, limiting animation and movement to avoid causing seizures or dizziness, and more.
WP Accessibility
The WP Accessibility WordPress plugin provides several features that can improve the user experience for people with visual, hearing, or motor impairments. The plugin is easy to install and configure.
Some of its features include the ability to switch to a high contrast mode for better readability, skip Navigation Links and navigate to the main content, keyboard navigation, and add ARIA landmarks to provide additional information to screen readers. It also enables users to read image descriptions using screen readers and increase or decrease the font size for readability. It also has a CSS and HTML Validator to check for errors and accessibility issues. This is a free plugin.
Accessibility Widget
The Accessibility Widget is a free WordPress plugin that can be added to a website to improve its accessibility for users with disabilities. It allows users to add a sidebar widget on WordPress to change the text size as per requirement. The widget offers more such accessibility features that can be customized to suit individual user preferences.
It offers text resizing, contrast adjustment, multiple font styles, screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, language translation options, audio descriptions, and more. It also offers the ability to save preferences for the user’s next visit.
WP Accessibility Helper
WP Accessibility Helper provides a set of features such as a contrast checker, font resizer for dyslexic or visually impaired users, and image alt text checker for users with screen readers. It also offers keyboard navigation for users with mobility impairments and a readability checker for users with cognitive impairments. WP Accessibility Helper is a freemium plugin. The paid version starts at $199/year for a single domain.
AudioEye
AudioEye is a web accessibility solution that provides tools and services to improve the accessibility of websites for people with disabilities. It uses a combination of automated and manual testing to identify and address accessibility issues on a website.
Its features include an accessibility toolbar to adjust settings such as font size, color contrast, and screen reader support, real-time, dynamic remediation for accessibility issues as soon as they are identified. It offers monitoring and reporting on the website's compliance with accessibility standards such as WCAG 2.1 AA. It also has an option for a one-time, site-wide fix to address common accessibility issues on a website.
AudioEye offers a free 14-Day trial. Post that, publishers have to pay $49, $199, and $499 for Simple, Advanced, and Premier Plans respectively.
Max Access
MaxAccess is a web accessibility solution that provides a suite of tools and services to help website owners improve the accessibility of their websites. It boasts features such as alt-tag and ARIA label management, AI-powered image recognition to generate alt text and captions, and an automated accessibility audit that identifies accessibility issues on a website, including WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. Max Access also offers mobile responsive accessibility toolbar, a dashboard for compliance monitoring, and accessibility training resources.
MaxAccess offers a 14-day free trial. It has several pricing plans based on the size and complexity of the website, starting from $27 per month. It also offers custom plans for enterprise-level websites.
One Click Accessibility
One Click is a free, easy-to-use accessibility plugin designed to help people with physical disabilities, visual impairments, and learning difficulties. One Click's features are designed to make it easier for users to navigate websites and access the information they need.
This free One Click accessibility plugin offers keyboard and mouse alternatives such as joysticks, switches, and head-pointers, a speech recognition feature to enable users to control their computer using voice commands, and text-to-speech that helps you to read out loud any text on the computer screen. It also offers visual aids such as high-contrast modes and on-screen keyboards and the ability to skip links and remove target links.
In conclusion, accessibility plugins are crucial for ensuring that your WordPress website is accessible to all users, regardless of their disabilities. Accessibility is a legal requirement in many countries, and a moral responsibility to ensure everyone can access and navigate your website easily. With these accessibility plugins, you should be able to comply with legal requirements while serving everyone at the same time.
Looking for different plugins for your website? Check out the best WordPress plugin for you blog. We have a list of 14 plugins to choose from.
