Blogs@Baruch Help Pages

Accessibility

Creating accessible web design is essential as it ensures that websites and digital content are usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. The goal of accessibility is to create an inclusive online environment where everyone, regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities, can access information and engage with digital content without barriers. This inclusivity not only benefits individuals with disabilities but also enhances the overall user experience for a broader audience.

See a before and after demo of a website.

Thankfully, Blogs@Baruch has robust built-in accessibility features that users can use to their advantage. This page will offer an overview of how to use Blogs@Baruch to maximize the accessibility of content on your site.

In addition, you can find more tips on creating accessible content and pedagogy at Teach Accessibility.

Built-in Network Wide Features

Blogs@Baruch utilizes WordPress, which, as one of the most popular web content creation tools, is committed to creating inclusive and accessible web-based design infrastructure. This includes prioritizing the public-facing portion of a website and the ability to build and maintain a website. You can learn more about the specific coding standards for WordPress here. Due to the open nature of WordPress, accessibility considerations are regularly overviewed by knowledgeable users and a dedicated Accessibility Team.

The Blogs@Baruch team performs regular updates to our system that incorporate all new accessibility features provided in WordPress directly. All plugins available to users by default are reviewed for accessibility.

In addition, network-wide enabled plugins offer additional accessibility support on the individual user level, as detailed below.

Individual Site Considerations

Themes

We periodically review the accessibility standards of themes that we offer. The default theme for new sites is accessibility ready.

Other available themes are routinely tested for basic accessibility features to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines by default. If a theme is found to no longer meet accessibility guidelines, it may be removed or edited.

A Note of Caution

While the theme chosen may be accessible in its default settings, when adding content, users should have some understanding of basic accessibility best practices.

Learn More about Best Practices for Accessible Web Content

Checking Accessibility on Blogs@Baruch

Beyond the accessibility tools users experience while creating site content, we recommend that users utilize some form of additional final check.

WAI CC-BY 4.0

Further WAI check information

Further Resources