When the hunt for accessible WordPress plugins makes me exhausted and frustration takes over the keyboard. A blind webmasters commentary

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When the hunt for accessible WordPress plugins makes me exhausted and frustration takes over the keyboard. A blind webmasters commentary

There are great plugins. There are bad plugins. There are fantastic plugins. There are accessible plugins.

And I quote from my latest encounter with one of those: It’s fantastic -according to the 5.0 rating and 200k active users,

“Easy to use and 100% FREE social media plugin which adds social media icons to your website with tons of customization features”

I’m not naming this company because I know I can find something else to use and I don’t have the energy to try to make them change things. But here is the deal: It’s a simple thing one would think. A few buttons, a few links, five minutes to set up, set and forget. Unfortunately, after thirty minutes of fighting with it, I deactivated, deleted, and drew a deep breath, backing away from the computer.
And I remember perfectly decent people say to me,
“Well, at least you can do some of the things you need. Better than nothing isn’t it?”

Let me say that again,

“At least you can…. Better than nothing…”

Oh, pardon me while I throw my prospects in the waste bin and cleanse work ethics from my brain. Let me also tie myself to a corner and promise to never want to excel in anything, ever. Allow me to learn the concept of Good Enough, I am blind after all, why want to be professional?
, Now, let me reframe all of that:

“Boss, you know that new computer?”

“Yeah, it’s amazing isn’t it? It’s really fast.”

“Yes, I’m sure it is. But there’s no monitor.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that. We’re thinking of getting the monitor sometime in the future. I’ve got people looking into it, I think. It is something I thought about but it seems complicated.”

“Okay, so how am I supposed to do my work? I have video to edit for the Friday show.”

“Oh well, I can’t see a real problem. Just build yourself a monitor and use that.”

“Err, well, it’s not something I ever thought I’d have to learn. So, no I cannot.”

“No? I thought you were capable and could do anything.”

“I’m a video editor, it’s not my job to build the equipment I need to use, is it?”

“Funny, it’s not my job either. I don’t even know who makes those. But don’t fret. You can always use the 486 over there can’t you?”

“You mean the DX? The one with the broken mouse and 16 mb of RAM?”

“Yes, of-course. Hell, At least you’ll have a chair and a desk to work at. That’s more than some have. It’s better than nothing, isn’t it?”

***

JennyK.
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Gutenberg editor in WordPress 5.0 – yeah, I gave it three minutes. Useless crap I can live without.

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Crap, I tell ya!

I have but a few words to say about the new editor in WordPress’ latest update. Their new fancy editor has become cool and intuitive and modern and flexible…. errr, and totally fucking useless! If you like it, then I know that you are sighted. I am not. The accessibility that WordPress has worked so hard on the last decade or so did not make it into the new Gutenberg editor. Yes, the buttons are there, in all the wrong places. The functions are there, without following any logical workflow thinking.

So I gave it about three minutes before installing the “Classic editor” plugin to write this post. I did notice that this plugin had, after only a few weeks since the upgrade , been installed over a million times. I spend a fair amount of time in the plugin directory and you don’t get numbers like that if users are not desperate to get it.

Again – “Classic editor” . Search for it, install it. Maybe you wish to try out the new editor with time,, maybe not. But if you are like me and like speed and efficiency in your post creation as well as rely on access technology such as screen readers, do not fight with Gutenberg. It’s not worth the frustration.

Classic is good.

JennyK

WordPress tidbits – Archived – Twitter lazy? Get Tweetily!

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Get Tweetily to post for you! Easy, accessible, and free plugin for wordpress.

Update December 2018:
I don’t use this plugin anymore and I’m not sure about it’s current state. Hopefully it’s going strong, just not on this site.

***

I don’t like twitter. Am i allowed to say that? But i do tweet my posts after publishing… when I remember to do so. And i have posts that deserve better. Older posts are just as cool as new posts for those who never read them before!

Tweetily does exactly that: it digs in the pile of posts according to your precise preferences, it tweets the number of tweets you specify, so you don’t have to. Simple! Lazy! Excellent plugin.

But the lazy part is not why this is my current favorite wordpress plugin. I love this because it is absolutely hassle free, is completely accessible, does what it says it’s going to do and then it tells you when it will do it the next time. and it’s free too.

What can I say? If you feel like you are neglecting twitter but still want your stuff to reach the twittersphere now and then, get Tweetily, set a schedule, authorize the app and forget about it.

Since it would seem very strange if I suddenly started to tweet every four hours, I set mine to tweet once a day at the most, add the link to the post, hashtags taken from the post category, and a bit of extra text to be included in every tweet. It really couldn’t be easier!

Cudos to Flavio Martins, who really did think of everything.
Read more at WordPress › Tweetily – Tweet Your Posts Automatically!