Font Awesome 4.6.0 Adds New Accessibility Icons Category

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 is a major update that improves accessibility for the millions of users who have vision and/or hearing impairments requiring accessible websites. Font Awesome introduced a new accessibility icon category with 15 icons and more on the way.

“We initially started with a set of common US disability access symbols, then expanded to others the FA community asked for,” Gandy said. “We’ll definitely keep adding to this category as more requests come in.”

The Font Awesome documentation has also been updated with a new accessibility section, showing users how to mark up icons so they work well for those using assistive technology to navigate websites and applications. Each icon page also has an updated example code block that users can copy and paste to ensure their icons are accessibility-ready.

WordPress plugin and theme authors who include Font Awesome icons in their work should update the CDN link to reference the latest version so website owners can use the new accessibility icons. Developers are also advised to review the new accessibility documentation and update their icon markup as necessary.