What is WordPress and how can it be used for digital teaching and learning?
WordPress (WP) is a popular open-source website builder and Lancaster University hosts 772 active WP sites. One of the advantages of WP is you don’t need any experience using computer programming languages; a great website can be set up quickly and easily. WordPress can be used as a teaching resource where students can collaborate, using their knowledge to present research in an interesting way. Dr Lisa Bradley from Queen’s University Belfast recently presented in the June 2023 EmpowerEd Webinar Series on ‘Breaking Down Barriers to student research using Social Media’. Lisa showcased a group activity where students used Twitter to present their research. Students were then assessed on the content of their posts, the quality of their research, their interactivity with other users, their overall design and their communication. Using an online platform is an excellent way to help students gain skills that are transferable to future graduate careers and can be highlighted by students on a C.V. demonstrating their skills in online editing and communication. WordPress can be used in a very similar way, and it is also used here at Lancaster University by staff to promote departments and research.
However, no matter what platform is used and what it is used for, we need to ensure that any content can be accessed by all and follows accessibility guidance.
The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 legislation applies to any website or app which is used by a public sector body in the UK. This includes all websites and web services associated with Lancaster University.
The legislations is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidance (WCAG). The guidance translates to making sure that we consider content and user interactions when we design a product. For example, we should consider colour contrast, content layout, how the website would be navigated with a keyboard and how it responds to the use of speech recognition software. By following the guidance, we are more likely to create logically laid out sites that layout information clearly. It improves the user experience for everyone!
How do you go about checking accessibility compliance?
This Digital Digest blog is very new, and I had no experience in using WordPress let alone ensuring that the content on there followed accessibility guidance. Myself and the DLT team worked together to explore the issues and overcome them with the help of Heath Boffey (thanks Heath!) from the Accessibility Team and using the information that we have available on both the University and Government websites (more details on this later!).
To start with, WordPress have a huge list of available templates to create a site that is customisable and engaging. However, not all of these templates follow accessibility guidance and some are more difficult to use than others when you consider users who rely on keyboard navigation or a screen reader for example. WordPress have a list of themes that are ‘Accessibility Ready’ although not all of them are available on Lancaster University’s instance of WordPress. My original choice of template (‘Hemingway’) was not on this list and so it was a quick fix to change to a more accessible one, in this case ‘Twenty Thirteen’. This isn’t the solution though, just a step in the right direction, as there were still things that needed to be done to improve accessibility.
The second step was to use online evaluation tools to get a report on the website’s accessibility. I used Microsoft Accessibility Insights and SiteImprove but there are a number of others out there that you can try such as WAVE. SiteImprove was useful as it performed a series of quick automated checks and then gave me a report on issues such as colour contrast which did not meet the guidance. I could repeatedly use this tool every time I changed something to see if that solved the issue. Microsoft Accessibility Insights provides an more in-depth assessment of your website. Alongside automated checks, walks the user through a series of manual checks which can help you to check and assess things such as appropriate heading levels, alternative (ALT) text, image function and landmark roles.
By choosing one of the more accessible WP theme templates from the start, there were fewer issues identified than there would have been if I persisted with the previous theme. However, as with many websites there will be accessibility issues and that is okay! We just needed to make sure that we addressed what we could fix. This involved adding information such as ALT text, using the Colour Contrast Analyser (available from AppsAnywhere) and changing some of the CSS accordingly.
The third step was to then put together the accessibility statement which included the few issues that we could not fix such as third-party content. It also includes the contact information for users who need assistance or want to raise a concern. The Government website provides lot of information on ‘Understanding accessibility requirements for Public Sector bodies’ and also provides a sample accessibility statement. There is also lots of help and guidance available on the Lancaster University website on accessibility regulations and creating accessible resources. There are tools, checklists and courses available to help.
You can find the link to the accessibility statement for Digital Digest in the footer at the bottom of the page. If you have a WordPress site here at the University and want some help in ensuring it meets accessibility guidance, you can put in a Help Centre Ticket.