The WordPress theme I use to create new websites is GeneratePress. And it’s not so much a theme as it is a framework. But it’s important to know that the accessibility isn’t pristine.
And all you have to do is go to the site library and look through the various templates that you can use to customize the look and feel of your website to know that accessibility issues exist and not only are there handful of accessibility issues, but they are repeated, they’re often repeated across the page.
But what’s interesting is that GeneratePress really does have strong foundational accessibility. It’s really an interesting case because they emphasize accessibility; they do have really strong accessibility.
And yet, it’s like they don’t pay attention to the details so that not everything is thorough. And let me go through the first two paragraphs on the homepage. One, the first thing that says GeneratePress is a lightweight WordPress theme that focuses on speed, stability and accessibility.
Another sentence says the free GeneratePress theme focuses on speed, usability and accessibility above all else. That is what you want to see when you are looking for a WordPress theme. And yet there is no accessibility statement.
And yet there is no page that highlights everything they’ve done with accessibility and the different majors they’ve taken to incorporate accessibility. So it’s a very interesting case, but I know firsthand that the accessibility is strong, and particularly when you start off with a default plain template.
I don’t think there are any accessibility issues on that template. What I also like is that when you have the premium version, you can get real and genuine support. So I have asked questions and received genuinely helpful answers.
That either- sometimes they’ll outright give the code to you that you need to copy and paste, and other times they’ll point me in the right direction.
But you will receive genuinely helpful responses on the support form. So I will link to GeneratePress below with my affiliate links. The point of this video is this is the theme I use. This is the theme I like the most. They emphasize accessibility to a point.
But they also don’t talk about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. They don’t talk about ADA compliance. So they’re not really marketing it, but they do emphasize it in a way- I think it’s in their own way.
It’s like they’ve really done the underlying work, but they just haven’t worked through all of the details. But ultimately, it is a strong WordPress theme for accessibility. And as long as you are making the edits necessary, you are going to limit any accessibility issues that plaintiffs’ lawyers would look through.
And another good part of this is the accessibility issues that do exist on these various templates. Most of them are quick and easy fixes, so there’s a lot to like about GeneratePress.
I use it, and I recommend it with the caveat. You do have to pay attention, so it’s not ready to use right away. You do have to pay attention, but it is- it does provide really strong accessibility out of the box.
