An excellent point about testing WordPress against ATAG. I totally agree!

When inserting an image with WordPress all that is required is the Title which then gets used for the title and alt attribute of the image element. This is kind of good, because it kind of meets ATAG requirements, however because the content in the title and alt attributes are duplicated, this is inappropriate as it duplicates the context of the content. In addition, if one does not change the title of the image from an improper file name, the meaning is lost.

When one adds caption text, this additional text is placed next to the image and alt attribute of the image, while the title attribute of the image remains the title, or filename, of the image. This is kind of okay because now the image element no longer has duplicate content for these attribute, however the alternative text for the image now repeats what duplicated in the content of the article: inappropriate and repetitive.

Meanwhile, the description text is used as content for Attachment post page if one chooses to publish each image as a separate attachment post. More information can be found on their Codex for Using Image and File Attachments.

WordPress, and other CMSs, is a Web content authoring tool. Therefore it’s important to assess them accordingly against the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (ATAG). This has been done once before, that I know of, three years ago for WordPress 2.01 Alpha. What ATAG says is basically that authoring tools must not only be accessible but support non-expert end users in authoring accessible content

In other news, ATAG is being updated to ATAG 2.0 to be more in sync with WCAG 2.0 and provide a broader coverage to web-based interfaces such as social networking sites that allow users to add and edit Web content.

Anyway, that’s all I’m going to say about this, for now. Again, I’m glad to see someone writing about this important and fun stuff.

On the admin color scheme, there is a plugin called Easy Access Color Scheme. I use it and am developing a custom color scheme that is high contrast. EACS’ developer is currently helping me finish the theme as I do not know enough style sheet coding. We will be making it available on my blog by the end of the week. I have a page dedicated to my posts on access in blogs and blogging.

The image tagging process is definitely confusing. As I do not use a screen reader, I do not know how my images come across. Which attributes do screen readers hear and what does WordPress call them? Hey Automattic and Six Apart, help us build an accessible blogosphere has some answers.

It would probably be better if you could use a newer browser. As far as I can tell by looking at the screenshots, you’re using Internet Explorer 6 which is very old and has been unsupported by it’s creators for a long time. Upgrading to Internet Explorer 7 or switching to FireFox if possible would make everything look and work better.

I know they take usability very seriously (the UI changes they’ve made are a result of actual user testing). Also they have some big corporate customers, and accessibility (ADA) gets to be more of a sore point the bigger the customer (especially if you sell to the public sector).

It´s a pleasure to receive your comment on my blog. You are an example of life and i´m honored to know your history and can share its to my readers.

My best wishes to you! (sorry for any mistake in my writing… ).

Fabio