The Gutenberg editor was introduced in 2018 and became the default editor in WordPress since version 5. Its adoption amongst blind persons, though, has been slow and reluctant for a variety of reasons. Initially, the accessibility was abysmal. Secondly, change is often not readily embraced because it’s just easier to keep doing things in ways that are familiar. Thirdly, and most importantly however, is the fact that, to date, there has been a profound lack of training regarding how to use the editor with a screen reader. The problem is, of course, that eventually the classic editor will cease being supported, and blind & low vision creators and developers will find themselves in a very difficult position. The truth is that it’s already considered end-of-life, and, as w/most projects where 2 code bases are being maintained to perform essentially the same functionality, the older one will eventually be eliminated. Think GMail’s recent elimination of the basic HTML view as a very current example.

Paul Martz, well known in the Applevis community, and Jackie McBride, hope to remedy that as they present a class on using the block editor for those who use screen readers. The class will cover the reasons for the change, the new capabilities the block editor introduces, the appearance of the block editor, and finally, how to use it to create content. Paul will discuss using the editor with Voiceover on the Mack, while Jackie will discuss its use with Windows.

How to Attend

The class will be held on Apr. 26 at 2 PM Pacific and Mountain Standard Time, 3 PM Mountain Daylight Time, 5 PM Eastern Time, and 2100 UTC for the rest of the world. Please consult a timezone website if you’re unsure how that translates to your timezone.

The class will be held via:
Free Conference Call .com ((267) 807-9605) followed by access code 662501#.
Participation via
my free conference call .com room
is also available to those for whom telephone participation is a hardship. The class is free of charge and will be recorded for those who can’t participate or who just wish to review the content again. The presentation will last about an hour, and there will be time for questions at the end.

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, you will understand how to create and publish basic content using the WordPress block editor with a screen reader and keyboard navigation. Specifically, you will learn:

• Screen reader considerations using the block editor–review of browse & focus/forms modes.
• 2 modes of block editor–edit & navigation modes.
• An overview of the block editor.
• What are blocks, and why use them.
• Inserting blocks.
• How to edit in classic mode even if the classic editor plugin goes away.
• Navigating the various parts of the block editor.
• Inserting content into blocks.
• Moving blocks.
• Deleting blocks.
• Editing content in a block, including formatting.
• Settings you can use to customize the block editor to your workflow.
• Other keystrokes you may find helpful when using the block editor.

These objectives will be taught by actually creating a post containing various blocks, and then publishing it.

We hope to see you there.