Have you ever struggled to use a website because it wasn’t designed with accessibility in mind? Accessibility is all about making digital products, like websites and apps, usable by everyone, regardless of their abilities. It’s important because it ensures that people with disabilities can access and use digital information and services just like everyone else. When websites and apps aren’t accessible, it can make things tough for people with disabilities and limit their opportunities for education, employment, and social interaction. By designing digital products to be accessible, we can make sure that everyone can use them, which is not only the right thing to do but also is required at UCI. Learn more about UCI Accessibility.

Plugins

UCI Sites has some plugins available to help you make your WordPress site more accessible. While these won’t guarantee your website will be accessible, they can help you achieve your accessibility goals. Find these plugins in the Plugins > All Plugins area of your dashboard. You will need to be an administrator on a site to activate these.

Accessibility (WP Accessibility)

The WP Accessibility plugin helps with a variety of common accessibility problems in WordPress themes.  It adds a number of helpful accessibility features that can be enabled or disabled based on your theme’s needs.

Accessible Content

Check your pages and posts for potential accessibility issues and get help with ensuring your content is accessible. This tool also makes it easy to check your media uploads to make sure you are using Alternative (ALT) text. You will see a new “Alt Text” menu option in the Media section.

Divi Accessibility

If you are using the Divi theme or Divi plugin, make sure to activate Divi Accessibility. This plugin improves Divi accessibility in accordance with WCAG 2.0 guidelines.

SiteImprove to Check Your Site

UCI has licensed the SiteImprove tool to help you check for accessibility issues on your site. SiteImprove is a web-based tool that helps website owners improve their websites to make them easier to use for everyone, including people with disabilities. It does this by checking your website for issues that might make it difficult for people with disabilities to use, like small text, missing descriptions of pictures, or buttons that are hard to click on. If it finds any issues, SiteImprove gives you advice on how to fix them, so your website becomes more inclusive and user-friendly. With SiteImprove, you can make sure your website is accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of their abilities.