By Scott Will
Making a website accessible to everyone is important, and following ADA compliance can be tricky. accessiBe is a plugin that can help make your website more accessible for all users. This article will discuss how to use the accessiBe WordPress plugin to improve your website’s ADA compliance.
1) Enable all shortcodes to be available in a caption element
Shortcodes can help add dynamic content to your website, and they are very easy to add. By default, the accessiBe plugin will add all shortcode’s HTML code into the description element when viewed with either high contrast or zoom modes. This is great. But what if you want the dynamic content to be added into the caption element instead of the description? No problem, just go to the plugin settings page and uncheck “Use description for shortcodes,” then save changes.
2) Add alt text to your images with accessiBe’s image captioning feature
Another useful feature is image captioning, which can help you improve the accessibility of your website by adding alt text (alternative text for the non-visual user who cannot see images) to all images on your website. It is very simple to use: just enter an empty string as your new ‘caption’ in the plugin’s settings page under “Image Captioning.”
3) Use dynamic/automatic table captioning
Did you know that tables are considered one of the most difficult to understand for non-visual users? This is because tables are automatically assigned captions in high contrast mode, but it is not the case when using zoom. This is where automatic table captioning becomes useful. By enabling this feature, you can have your tables automatically assigned with the same caption text in both modes to be easier for all visitors to understand.
4) Batch edit captions of tables and images
Did you know that the accessiBe plugin can help you change the default caption text by batch editing any number of tables or images at once? This is very useful when updating your website’s content or changing page layouts or templates that may have changed the locations of tables/images. By checking off the boxes next to each table or image you want to edit and enter a new caption text that says ‘new caption,’ you can change the default caption text of any number of tables/images in one go.
5) Easily copy and paste WordPress shortcode into accessiBe’s Caption Templates
Did you know that it is possible to directly add a WordPress shortcode into accessiBe plugin’s settings page under “Caption templates” then save changes? This can be very useful when adding dynamic content from other sources such as 3rd party systems. Simply use the same shortcode with all corresponding parameters in the accessiBe plugin’s setting page.
6) Enable Captions in Mouse-over Tooltips
When visitors move the cursor over an image or a table, tooltip popups appear with information about it. By default, the accessiBe plugin will add a title attribute containing a dummy text to all images and tables when using mouse-over tooltips in high contrast mode. This is great; however, you may want to add descriptive captions instead of dummy texts for your images/tables if they contain dynamic content relevant to what users see in tooltip popup windows. In this case, go to the plugin’s settings page under “Mouse-over Image” and check off the box next to ‘Enable caption in the tooltip.’ Then enter your caption text where it says ‘Caption’ and click save changes.
