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First Steps With WordPress Using Assistive Technology

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Introduction

You may have heard of WordPress before but you don’t know where to begin. Today, we will be taking your first steps diving into WordPress.

What is WordPress anyway?

WordPress is a content management system or CMS for short. In simple terms, it allows websites to be created without coding it yourself.

WordPress makes up 40% of all websites on the web today from governments, universities, and anything you could imagine. In addition, WordPress isn’t just used for blogs but you have all of the power to create your next idea.

How accessible is WordPress?

You may be sold on using WordPress for your next website idea, but you use assistive technology. WordPress is definitely usable with assistive technology like screen readers, screen magnifiers, and others. In fact, WordPress is the most accessible system to build a website if you are an assistive technology user.

Versions of WordPress

WordPress comes in a few different versions. It is important to understand the differences for your specific project.

wordpress.com is the version of WordPress that is made by automatic. It is a version of WordPress that you most likely have seen whenever you go to a blog or other site. This is a version of WordPress for those who may be not as technical but who need a basic blog site. However, you are very limited in what you can do. Finally, you do not have complete control of your content.

Next is wordpress.org. This is a free and open source version of WordPress that is able to be used on your own server. You have complete control over your content which is great and you can install anything. This results in building very powerful websites. For this reason, we will assume that you’re will use wordpress.org.

The State of WordPress Accessibility

We mentioned earlier that WordPress was the most accessible website creation platform. Let’s expand on that by talking about some tips. The first tip is Google Chrome or any other chromium based browser is going to be the best. If you’re looking for the best screen reader to use for WordPress, I would highly recommend nvda or Non-visual desktop access. NVDA tends to work better with the WordPress dashboard and editor. If you are using JAWS or Job Access with Speech,it is possible to use WordPress, but it is a little bit less accessible. If you are on the Mac, voiceover in Safari will work fine.

Conclusion

We started to build the building blocks of what WordPress was and what it can do for you. We determined that WordPress is a Content management system or CMS that allows you to build websites without coding them yourself. In addition, WordPress Powers over 40% of the web today. If you are an assistive technology user, NVDA on Windows and a chromium browser will work the best. Whereas on Mac, Voiceover and Safari will do the job. Finally, we talked about the different versions of WordPress and determined that WordPress.org will be what we use. Next, we will talk about how to get started by securing a domain and hosting.

Resources

If you enjoyed the content, and want to get in contact, you may using the following.

Taylors Accessibility Services

You may also visit Taylors Tech Talks to follow the community.

#iACast 41 – I’m Always serious about the Windows 10 Creators Update

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Windows 10 Creators Update supported Devices

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On this episode of the iA Cast Aleeha Jason and Michael discuss the Microsoft’s latest update to Windows 10 which is called the Windows 10 Creators Update. Here is what we covered during the episode.

  • Microsoft adds accessible installation of Windows through Narrator
  • Narrator gets Braille support for corded Braille Displays
  • Microsoft adds new voices to Narrator
  • Cortana is added to the Windows setup process for voice enabled setup

During the podcast, we also discuss bugs we have found during the creators update process.

  • Michael found issues with HDMI in games on ASUS ROG G752VL laptop along with touchpad driver issues
  • Aleeha had issues with the keyboard not keeping up with letters being typed and letters would appear in the wrong order. This bug appears to have been fixed in a later Insider patch.

Learn about the Microsoft Windows 10 Creators Update in full detail.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the iA Cast. Please leave us feedback at feedback@iaccessibility.net or on Twitter at @iAccessibility1

Amazon Brings Accessibility to Kindle for Desktop

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Amazon

Amazon has been working on accessibility in their products lately with their Fire tablets and with their e-readers, but they have started in other areas as well. Recently, Amazon has made their Kindle application for Windows accessible with NVDA, and this is a big deal for users and the assistive technology industry.

Kindle with NVDA?

Amazon chose to make the Kindle application for Windows accessible with the NVDA screen reader from NVAccess. While it is great that the Kindle app is accessible for Windows, I think it is the latest application that makes NVDA a major screen reader for users which puts it in the same playing field as JAWS or Window-Eyes

NVDA compared to JAWS or Window-Eyes

NVDA is a free screen reader funded by the community of users and other organizations that keep the project going. Because of this, it is never certain how long NVDA will stay funded. This means that NVDA could stop being developed by the developers if funding runs out. Fortunately, NVDA is open source, which means that anyone can continue the development of the project and the community would oversee its development. JAWS and Window-Eyes are developed by an organization that makes a profit by selling their products to those who use screen readers so their products will continue to receive updates in the future.

NVDA and Kindle

The fact that Amazon chose NVDA to make the Kindle app for Windows accessible means that NVDA has become a household name in screen readers enough for Amazon to think that enough people will use NVDA to read books over other screen readers at home. I think that every time NVDA gets recognized like this by an organization the project gets more recognition in the community, and that means that it is more essential for NVDA to stay around and for it to continue to receive feature updates and new features.

#iACast 35 – Hands Free Purchasing Power

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Welcome to our latest episode of the iA Cast. This week we discuss the following topics.

We will have one more episode this week and then we will have new content fresh from the CSUN 2017 conference

We are looking for new ways to bring you into the conversation, and we encourage people to join us for the podcast recording on TeamTalk at teamtalk.iaccessibility.net. We only ask that you mute while we record the podcast.

We hope that you have enjoyed this episode. Please email us at feedback@iaccessibility.net for suggestions or to leave comments or feedbac.

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