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Using the Editoria11y plugin

The Editoria11y plugin is a kind of digital accessibility spellchecker that’s installed on all branded University WordPress sites.

Site owners and content editors should use Editoria11y to make sure the information is presented on their sites in an accessible way. It's the law for the University's websites to be accessible so they can be read and used by anyone, no matter if they have a disability or not.

The University’s Digital Accessibility site has a page explaining how to use Editoria11y.

What is digital accessibility?

Digital accessibility refers to making sure websites, apps, digital devices and more can be used by anyone, no matter their physical, sensory or cognitive abilities.

Web accessibility is a large part of digital accessibility but refers to anything that can be accessed via a web browser, such as Chrome or Microsoft Edge. That means web pages, videos, downloadable documents and more.

The ‘Is it accessible?’ page will help you learn more about digital accessibility and your role in it.

Why use Editoria11y?

Digital accessibility is a legal requirement for the University, and inclusivity is one of our core values.

Your site needs to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA. Using Editoria11y is a really quick and easy way to do this without you having to learn all the WCAG rules.

Following digital accessibility standards gives people with disabilities an equal experience and quite often helps everyone. When we don't do this at the University, we inhibit the learning of thousands of students and make it harder for colleagues to teach, research, and provide services.

How to use Editoria11y

The main way to engage with Editoria11y is by working through any issues it flags when you’re logged into your site and view a live page or preview a draft page.

After you’ve viewed a live page or previewed a draft, unresolved issues will also appear under the ‘Editoria11y’ menu item in the Dashboard area of your WordPress site.

  1. From the Dashboard area of your WordPress site, there's an 'Editoria11y' item in the menu.
  2. Select this and you'll get a screen that allows you view 'Issues by page', 'Issue type' and 'Recent dismissals'.
  3. Select 'Issue type' and a table will appear that shows the kind of issue and how many instances of that issue appear.
  4. Select an issue and you'll get to another screen that shows you where this issue can be found.

Not seeing all issues via the dashboard?

Some colleagues have reported the area accessed via the dashboard that should display all issues is empty and doesn't show the problems the tool has flagged on their pages.

The developer has identified a bug that's causing this and is planning to address it during spring 2024.

In the mean time, please continue to work through your issues on page-by-page basis. Editoria11y is still working as expected in this way.

This guide will be updated when the issue has been resolved.

Further information

The University’s Digital Accessibility site has a page explaining how to use Editoria11y.

The site also has a series of accessibility checklists so you can quickly assess the accessibility of you web content, digital documents (Word, PowerPoint and PDF), and video content.

The ‘Is it accessible?’ page will help you learn more about digital accessibility and your role in it.