Today is the release of the first episode of The Accessibility Show on WPBuilds – a podcast series I’m doing with the marvelous Nathan Wrigley.

The Accessibility Show is going to focus on one issue per show: just one interface component or just one accessibility issue, then examine it in a set of various sites. Where are we sourcing the sites? The WordPress Showcase. The showcase is a particularly interesting source for information. Like many design collections, this holds sites that are being held up for examination as examples of great and unique design.

Also like many design collections, it is rife with accessibility problems.

I’ve taken a look at this before, in my article examining the accessibility of the WordPress Showcase, and I was pretty critical at that time. But I want to take some time to break down the details: what are the issues that make these websites problematic?

It’s important that we question the assumption that the showcase is setting an example for developers – portfolios like this are places where people might go for inspiration. And there are many design elements in the showcase that may be good sources of inspiration, but there are a lot of details that I hope people won’t reproduce.

This isn’t about ridiculing developers; it’s about demonstrating that people make mistakes, and providing information that might be helpful for making better, more accessible sites in the future.

I hope you enjoy it!