Come one, come all to the third annual WordPress Accessibility Day happening Sept. 27 and 28. The 24-hour free event covers all of the best practices to make your site as accessible as possible. Talks range from data visualization, audio descriptions, user tests, and more.
The event was originally started by the Website Core Accessibility Team back in 2020 and has been carried on by volunteer organizers since.
According to the website, “Our mission is to demystify website accessibility for WordPress developers, designers, content creators, and users so that they can more easily build websites that work for everyone, regardless of ability.”
Registration is free and still open. The conference kicks off at 14:45 UTC and run for a full 24-hours hitting every time zone. Each talk will have live captioning and ASL (American Sign Language) interpreters for those who need them.
Can’t make the event? Everything will be posted afterward on the YouTube channel.
Why Web Accessibility Matters
Over 1 billion people in the world have a disability that affects the way they view the web. If a portion of the population can’t access your content, you are missing out on a potential fan, reader, or customer. Simple improvements can greatly benefit a wide number of people. Not only those who report a disability, but people who speak a different language or want to read your site on a phone in the park.
Simply put, any improvements you make to your website will make it easier to use for anyone. And making your site as accessible as possible is just the right thing to do.
The event site lists the people who will benefit from a more accessible web:
- blindness or visual impairments,
- deafness or hearing loss,
- motor challenges ranging from loss of a limb to quadriplegia to the tremors and arthritis that are common as people age,
- cognitive disabilities related to conditions people are born with or traumatic brain injuries that happen later in life,
- epilepsy,
- motion sickness,
- reading difficulties such as dyslexia,
- and more!
Why Attend Accessibility Day
Though it is true every site owner needs to make accessibly a priority, it can be hard to know where to start, especially if your site is already complete. No matter what stage your site is in, these experts will help you optimize it.
Don’t Miss These Sessions
The Keynote is a conversation with Global Accessibility Awareness Day co-founder, Jennison Asuncion. He will discuss how events like this can spread awareness, the state of online accessibility, and how WordPress is doing. Should be a fascinating conversation.
If you’re struggling with how to make sure your site is accessible stop by Gaby Gandica’s talk Is My WordPress Site Accessible? How to Perform Accessibility and Usability Tests. Learn simple tests to point to exactly what needs to be improved using data.
A great way to ensure an accessible site is to start with your theme. Join Gen Harris at her talk Building an Accessible Theme for Accessible First Sites and learn about accessible design.
You won’t want to miss out on these amazing expert-led talks.
Register for WordPress Accessibility Day Now
If you are looking to get a better understanding of accessibility and find ways to make actionable changes on your site, register for Accessibility Day. It’s free, it spans all time zones, and it is incredibly educational. You don’t want to miss out on this invaluable information!
