Hosting your own Accessible Blogs

By Melissa McAvoy, CATEA
January 11, 2007

Almost overnight, blogging has evolved into a world-wide phenomenon. According to CNN.com, the total number of blogs on the internet will rise to around 100 million by this year. The appeal of blogging lies in the ability of authors to easily share thoughts and information with a wide audience. But, how easily can users with disabilities access blogs and how can authors make it even easier?

CNN.com The Briefing Room – The year in numbers: 2007

What is a Blog?

A blog, or “web log”, is a web site that contains online personal or professional journal-style entries posted by one or more authors. Posts are generally arranged in reverse-chronological order with the most recent post at the top. Users of blogs are almost never required to have knowledge of a programming language which makes blogging extremely simple. Some blogging sites, however, give the user the ability to modify the code in their posts and even create custom design templates.

Are there Accessible Blogs?

There are many blogs out there that claim to be fairly accessible. The American Federation for the Blind (AFB) conducted a recent accessibility study on two popular blogging services, Blogger and Bloglines, and several popular blogs including Hacking Netflix, Fastlane General Motors Blog, Micropersuasion, and Blogspotting – Business Week Online. At the conclusion of the study, AFB found that all of the sites and services contained atleast some accessibility issues. The results of their study can be found at AFB – Is Blogging Accessible to People with Vision Loss?.

Fortunately, developers who want to host their own blogs are in luck. The following is a list of open-source blog software (Content Management Software or CMS) that will allow you to create your own accessible blog:

Note: CATEA is not responsible for the content or security of these websites. The accessibility of these sites should be examined by the developer before implementation.

Open-Source Blogging Software

Apache Roller

Language: JAVA

bBlog

Language: PHP/MySQL

DasBlog

Language: ASP.NET

Dotclear

Language: PHP/MySQL
French Site

Drupal

Language: PHP/MySQL
Comes with Accessible Themes
Drupal’s Accessibility Statement

Geeklog

Language: PHP/MySQL

Greymatter

Language: Perl 5, Claims no language experience required

Plone

Language: Python
Danish Company (English Site)
Accessibility award for Danish Plone site

WordPress

Language: PHP/MySQL

Accessible WordPress Themes
The following themes for WordPress claim to be accessible.

WordPress.org – Themes

SeaBeast by Mike Cherim

Beat Blog by Mike Cherim

Corporate and Professional WordPress Blogging Templates by etonDigital