5 Best WCAG Plugins for Joomla 4
As the importance of websites grows, website owners have a growing awareness of the need for adaptations to comply with WCAG principles. The operation of a website should not exclude people with different types of disabilities, and it is now recommended to make accessibility a priority.
The purpose of improving the Joomla 4 website's accessibility can be achieved with the best Joomla WCAG plugins. There are also other Joomla WCAG & ADA solutions like accessible Joomla templates, but we will focus on plugins in this article.
We hope that you will find the mentioned Joomla WCAG plugins helpful, and their use will improve/enhance the accessibility of your site.
What are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines?
WCAG is a collection of documents containing recommendations for creating accessible websites. Their primary purpose is to provide user-friendly accessibility standards to websites for the most significant number of users with disabilities, such as the blind or visually impaired (Digital Exclusion).
That is also often required by law for many public institution sites in many countries.
Accessibility Plugins for Joomla 4
If you need to make your website more accessible, use tools for that purpose. Each Joomla website owner can improve the accessibility with the help of third-party accessibility plugins available on the market. Let’s focus on WCAG 2.1 plugins now.
DJ-Accessibility - recommended
DJ-Accessibility Joomla WCAG 2.1 plugin works as a set of valuable tools helping people with disabilities navigate the website. Accessibility options can be displayed in a pop-up or toolbar on the web page.
DJ-Accessibility tool is a simple plugin, easy to configure.
Most important features:
- smart contrast
- keyboard navigation
- mobile-friendly
- customizable icon
- changing the typo (font size, line height, and letter spacing)
- screen reader
DJ-Accessibility Joomla WCAG solution works with Joomla and WordPress, but it’s also fully integrated with the YOOTheme Pro Builder.
Accessibility Enabler
Accessibility Enabler is the accessibility software that helps your visitors personalize the site based on their needs. This way, you can increase your website’s accessibility compliance. The plugin comes with about 30 accessibility tools available for visitors. It makes the site much easier to navigate for people with dyslexia and other disabilities.
Top Features:
- Accessibility toolbar
- Customizable accessibility widget
- Accessibility Statement, Badge, and Certificate
- Multiple language support
- Scroll to the top floating button
Screen Reader
Screen Reader is an advanced and lightweight plugin that will add a lot of accessibility features for reading and improve the quality of the content to all visually impaired users.
The Screen Reader plugin will show in the frontend as a popup or toolbar that you can position at the top or at the bottom of the page.
The most important features are:
- High-quality audio text reader
- Font sizing
- 3 high contrast modes
- Dyslexic font
- Gray hues
- Enlarged cursor
- Text spacing
Accessibility
The Accessibility plugin will allow your visitors to access your Joomla website content more accessible and remove the barriers between visitors and the Joomla web page. It’s straightforward to install and set up.
The most important features are:
- Button Color
- Cursor Resizer
- Dyslexic Readibility
- Grayscale
- Font resizer
- Letter and word spacer
- 3 Different High contrast options
Simple AccessKeys
Simple AccessKeys is a configurable plugin that adds accessible keyboard navigation to a web page. Additionally, it emphasizes the keys as hotkeys for quick, accessible keyboard navigation. The free version shows a copyright notice in the popup.
Conclusion
Web accessibility has become an essential part of any website, and ensuring that a site is accessible to users with limitations is already or will soon be an absolute necessity. Joomla has taken care of website's accessibility. Just by using Joomla 4, site authors can create accessible content with the help of Jooa11y: an accessibility tool that visually highlights common accessibility and usability issues on a site. It is enabled by default in Joomla 4.1.
However, if you decide to go a step further and install one of the advanced add-ons mentioned above, you can gain a lot. They contain powerful features to improve the site to provide appropriate access to content for people who require it.
