Font Awesome, the open source vector icon collection used by more than 300 plugins on WordPress.org and many free and commercial themes, announced the beta release of its new CDN. Developers can now add a single line of code to bring the icons and CSS toolkit into their projects. The icon files and CSS are…
Font Awesome creator Dave Gandy announced the release of version 4.6.0 this week. The open source vector icon collection is used on approximately 60 million websites, including high profile sites like whitehouse.gov, thebeatles.com, and washingtonpost.com. Additionally, more than 300 plugins on WordPress.org and dozens of themes use Font Awesome in some way. The 4.6.0 release…
Last month WordPress contributors approved accessibility coding standards for the core handbook. All new and updated code will need to conform with WCAG 2.0 level AA guidelines. With WordPress core moving firmly in the direction of accessibility, its new guidelines set the bar for themes, plugins, and websites built on top of the platform. Text…
The 31st Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference was held in San Diego, California, last week. Every year thousands of attendees gather to share knowledge and best practices for technology that removes barriers for people with disabilities. This year Rian Rietveld was recognized by Knowbility.org for her accessibility contributions to WordPress core. She…
The Accessibility Team announced today that the WordPress Accessibility Coding Standards have been approved for the core handbook. The team sought feedback on the draft of the guidelines earlier this year and, after a few revisions, the coding standards are out of draft status. Contributors will now be required to meet these guidelines in order…
In June 2015 Deque, an accessibility consultancy, open sourced aXe, its accessibility rules engine for automated web UI testing. aXe is a compact JavaScript library (~100 KB) that executes automated accessibility tests inside your testing framework or browser. Deque outlined a number of advantages that the aXe library has over previous approaches to automated testing…
The WordPress Accessibility team is seeking feedback on a draft that outlines accessibility coding standards for WordPress core. According to the draft, new features should meet the accessibility guidelines before merging into core. All code released in WordPress must conform with the WCAG 2.0 guidelines at level AA. These basic guidelines are intended for easy…
After three months in the WordPress.org theme review queue, Morten Rand-Hendriksen‘s new mobile-first theme is now live in the official theme directory. Popper is one of the few themes worthy of the “accessibility ready” tag, which requires the author to meet all of the WordPress Accessibility Guidelines. This includes features such as semantic markup and…
BuddyPress 2.4.0 “Pietro” named after an authentic Italian restaurant in Paris, France is available for download. This release includes support for cover photos that users can add to their profile or a group. Cover photos are built on top of the BuddyPress Attachments API meaning they should seamlessly integrate into themes. If you need to…
Many influential WordPress projects, such as Aesop Story Engine, PodsCamp, and WordPress Post Forking, found their beginnings and/or second winds on Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, or another crowdfunding platform. A successful campaign funded by passionate supporters can make an idea into reality or bring fresh momentum for another round of development. Kayosey is the latest community project…
Web accessibility guidelines are constantly in flux, making it difficult for site administrators to keep pace. Even if you have a decent grasp on the basics, changes to your theme, plugins, and content can introduce new accessibility issues that you didn’t anticipate. Legal requirements may soon put publishers under the gun for accessibility compliance. Plugin…
Throughout the first half of this month, the WordPress Accessibility team has been working together with the Theme Review Team to discuss the possibility of requiring the accessibility-ready tag for themes hosted on WordPress.org. The team will need to create an official proposal to submit to the Theme Review Team in order to make this…
At age 15, Nikhil Vimal is the youngest guest to ever be interviewed on WordPress Weekly. Based out of Minnesota, Vimal has quickly made his mark in the WordPress community. He’s already spoken at his first WordCamp and contributed to the core of WordPress through the inline documentation project. He’s also been confirmed to speak…
Earlier this month WordPress developer Morten Rand-Hendriksen released Simone, a free theme based on Underscores. Like many themes, Simone is responsive, wired for translation, utilizes the customizer, and includes editor styles. One feature, however, sets Simone apart – a heavy emphasis on accessibility. Rand-Hendriksen believes that the accessibility-ready tag should be required for all WordPress…
Accessibility is one of those areas of WordPress contribution that hardly ever ends up in the spotlight. Much of the work that goes on in this area is invisible to the vast majority of users. Accessibility experts are generally in shorter supply than other types of contributors as well. Why aren’t more people involved in…