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NASA Funds Development of Front-End Highlighting Feature for Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker
Georgetown, Texas, August 17, 2023 – Equalize Digital is excited to announce the release of a new “front-end highlighting” feature for its WordPress Accessibility Checker plugin, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker is software that adds automated accessibility testing into the WordPress content management system, which powers more than 41% of the web. Released in early 2021, the plugin is open source and offers a free version available for anyone with a WordPress website via the WordPress plugin directory.
In May 2019, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine issued a memo that required the Agency to comply with the Integrated Digital Experiences Act (21st Century IDEA), signed into law in December 2018. His memo also requested a “full modernization of NASA’s digital presence to best reflect the priorities and activities of the Agency in this new era of science, discovery and exploration.” As part of the web modernization project, NASA is redesigning and developing several of its websites, including its flagship nasa.gov site, in WordPress. A public beta of the new flagship site is available at https://beta.nasa.gov/.
NASA selected Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker for automated accessibility testing in WordPress. To make reports easier to understand for non-developers, Equalize Digital developed the front-end highlighting feature. This feature adds a “view on page” link to each issue in Accessibility Checker’s reports that, when clicked, takes users to the public view of the web page, highlights the element with a dashed pink box around it, and shows a panel explaining the issue and how to fix it.
NASA funded the development of this feature, and it was added to the free version of Accessibility Checker so the public can benefit from it at no cost.
“Our goal is to make accessibility testing easier for every WordPress user, not just developers,” said Equalize Digital CEO Amber Hinds. “Accessibility Checker was developed to include a robust free version with this in mind. We want to make building websites that work for people with disabilities standard practice and were excited to work with NASA to make accessibility testing reports easier for non-developers to understand and take action on. Adding this feature to the free plugin was a no-brainer for us. We’re looking forward to seeing more WordPress website owners finding and fixing accessibility problems on their websites.”
About Equalize Digital
Equalize Digital is a Certified B Corporation, a woman-led business, and a corporate member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. In addition to offering WordPress accessibility services and products, Equalize Digital team members are lead organizers for the WordPress Accessibility Meetup and WordPress Accessibility Day conference. Learn more about Equalize Digital at equalizedigital.com.
About NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is America’s civil space program and the global leader in space exploration. The agency has a diverse workforce of just under 18,000 civil servants and works with many more U.S. contractors, academia, and international and commercial partners to explore, discover, and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity. Learn more about NASA at nasa.gov.
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