“What's the best audit tool that I can use to check my website's performance?” you ask yourself. Why would you consider Google Lighthouse?
How reliable is its scoring system? And how accurate are the results that it provides?
Now, let's get you some answers on:
what is
how to use
why you'd want to use
… the Google Lighthouse testing tool.
1. What Is Google Lighthouse?
Before we get into the “Why”, let's see “What” the Google Lighthouse score is, actually:
It generates separate scores for different aspects on a web page, like:
SEO
rundown of best practices
accessibility
performance
PWA
In other words: it evaluates precisely the factors with the strongest impact on the user experience (page load time, anyone?).
What you get is a report on the measures to take in order to fix the identified issues.
And to hopefully get a maximum Google Lighthouse score next time...
2. How Do You Use Google Lighthouse?
And here we tackle one of this testing tool's biggest selling points: ease of use.
Now, there are 3 ways that you can run a Google Lighthouse report:
2.1. Use it Right in Chrome DevTools
The simplest way to run this audit tool on your website is to:
Download Google Chrome for Desktop (if you haven't done that already)
Enter the web page's URL in your browser
Click F12 to open up your Chrome Developer Tools (or just click “Inspect” anywhere on the page)
Hit the “Audits” Tab
Click “Perform an audit” (you'll see there the aspects of your website that it's about to check: SEO, Accessibility, Performance...)
Hit “Run Audit” to have Google Lighthouse generate your audit report directly through your browser
Easy peasy...
2.2. Install the Lighthouse Chrome Extension
If you prefer to run this website analysis tool as a Chrome extension, just:
Download Google Chrome for Desktop
Install the extension from the Chrome Webstore
Go to the web page that you want to test
Click the “Lighthouse” icon newly added to your Chrome address bar
Hit the “Generate Report” button
Just wait for about 30-60 seconds for the tool to inspect the page and generate the results in a new tab.
Source: developers.google.com
2.3. Run It Via the Node.js Command Line
If you're more of a CLI person, you'll find this workflow more suitable:
Again, if you haven't downloaded Google Chrome for Desktop already, now it's the time
Install the latest version of Node.js
Install Lighthouse by typing npm install -g lighthouse into your command line
Next, enter the lighthouse <url> to run an audit
Note: use the lighthouse –help command to get an overview of all the options.
That's it!
Note: it's an HTML version of the audit report that you'll get when you run Google Lighthouse via the command-line tool. Just so you know it.
Tip! There's also a... forth way to use the Google Lighthouse audit tool, probably one of the quickest ways to run your report:
Just go to web.dev
Click “TEST MY SITE”
Enter your URL
Click “RUN AUDIT”
And voila: you'll have your Google Lighthouse score generated for that particular web page in no time!
3. 6 Reasons Why You'd Use Google Lighthouse (And Why We're Using It)
Now that you know precisely what it is and the different ways that you can use it:
Why would you choose this particular website auditing tool over... all the other testing tools out there?
To give you an honest answer, let me share with you the key reasons why we, the OPTASY team, are using it on our clients' websites and even on our own site:
it's so easy to use: why compromise ease of use for accurate audit results, when... you can have both?
it's Google-developed (not just a no-name third-party testing tool)
it's open-source
it's fully automated
it tests how the scanned web pages look and perform on mobile devices, as well
it's user-centric metrics that it provides: what's the point of optimizing a website merely for our own “fame and glory” and... risk losing sight of the user's own expectations?
Whether we're:
building a new website for one of our clients
optimizing a client's existing website
optimizing OPTASY.com itself
… and we want to check how well its web pages perform, we just run a Google Lighthouse audit.
And speaking of using it on our own website, here's a sneak peek into the Lighthouse Score that it's got after we put it through some major optimization work:
In short, the scoring system and suggestions of improvement that Google Lighthouse generates make the best "barometer" for us to:
assess the quality of the audited pages (in case of an existing website, so we know what we're dealing with)
evaluate our work (after we've built/improved a website)
identify existing issues and prepare our “To Do” lists to get them fixed
4. Final Word
Do you want to learn more about how to use Google Lighthouse to its full potential? About how you can boost your Google Lighthouse performance score, like we have for OPTASY.com?
Or maybe you've already generated a report, you have the list of recommendations at hand and you need help to implement them on your website?
Either way, we're here to help. Just drop us a line.
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 01'2020
What are the top 10 Drupal websites in Asia?
What famous Asian brands, newspapers, NGOs, key players in various industries, have their websites powered by Drupal?
To answer your question, we've done some digging and put together a selection of the best Drupal-based websites in Asia, ranging from the most popular to the most niche ones:
1. Mitsui Chemicals Inc., Japan
Japan's leading chemicals manufacturer runs its multi-site infrastructure on Drupal.
Why Drupal?
because of the powerful multi-site and multi-language features that it provides, out of the box
because Drupal enables them to store content centrally and then share it, personalized for each country, across their ecosystem of sub-sites: Japan, Germany, China, Singapore
In short: Mitsui Chemicals Inc. needed a robust CMS. One that could withstand its heavy structure of domains and groups of sites and enable them to manage all their content on a single platform.
2. ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, Philippines
The news division of this reputed media corporation in the Philippines — ABS-CBN — has its website powered by Drupal.
And the reasons why they chose this CMS are... pretty obvious:
we're talking about a complex network of various types of content: video, multimedia, story...
the website delivers critical news in real-time, so Drupal's feature of processing and publishing data in real-time is critical for them
the newspaper has a whole community of online readers built around it, so it depends on Drupal's access control system
A content-heavy, high trafficked website, that updates its content in real-time… Drupal's built precisely for this type of scenarios.
And that's why ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs is listed among the top 10 Drupal websites in Asia.
3. The Haribon Foundation, Philippines
Now, we couldn't have left out non-profit organizations from our list of popular Drupal websites in Asia, now could we?
The Haribon Foundation is a biodiversity conservation organization in the Philippines, that trusted Drupal for turning its website into a user engaging one.
One that tells their story right to all the future volunteers, donors, members, and partners.
Why Drupal?
because it ships with plenty of built-in functionality, enabling them to get their website up and running in no time
because it provides them with a robust taxonomy system, which enables them to categorize and organize their content
because it's scalable: it's built to accommodate all future initiatives, no matter how bold, and all future loads of traffic
because it's open-source
because it's easy to use by non-technical users (anyone can create, add, publish, and further edit content)
4. The Beijinger, China
A community website with an audience made of English-speaking expats living in Beijing, China.
Why did they go with Drupal?
because of the different types of content that they display on their website, ranging from forums to events, to reviews, podcast, blog, directory, photo gallery
because a significant part of the content is user-generated, which means that they can get the most of Drupal's user role and permission-based access control system
because they needed a CMS that could grant them the best editorial experience: adding and editing so many types of content, on different sections of the website, had to go... smoothly
5. The Jakarta Post, Indonesia, One of the Top 10 Drupal Websites in Asia
The largest English language newspaper in Indonesia, The Jakarta Post is on the list of the key media sites using Drupal.
A heavy load of content, that needs to be updated in real-time... these are just 2 of the key factors that turned Drupal into the only CMS suitable for this high trafficked newspaper site.
6. Amman Stock Exchange, Jordan
Another one of the top 10 Drupal websites in Asia, due to:
the crucial role that this economic platform plays in the region
the outstanding user experience that it provides, despite the complex technical challenges that it needs to deal with “in the backstage”
Why did they choose Drupal over any other CMS option?
Drupal enabled them to provide their users a mobile-first experience: a seamless user experience was crucial for the Amman Stock exchange website, with users being enabled to view charts, graphs, and tables on the go, from any devices
Drupal provides the right tools to “empower the end-user”: users can set up and easily manage their own portfolios on the website, set filters for the content that they receive, personalize their notifications, etc.
Drupal's robust enough to withstand high spikes of traffic
Drupal integrates seamlessly with their ecosystem of third-party systems, that provide the Amman Stock Exchange users with market and financial information
Drupal is multi-lingual right out of the box: Amman Stock Exchange could provide a personalized experience to business owners and investors from all over the world
7. Pacific Aikido, Japan
The Aikido dojo, which been teaching its classes in and around Tokyo since 1991, has its website powered by Drupal.
And it's no surprise to anyone why they chose it:
Drupal makes it plain easy for the end-users to manage their own content: students and parents can log in and engage in conversations with the site owner, while the latter can upload and update content quick and easy
Drupal's conveniently extensible: it enabled the team working on this project to implement the Image API and thus enable the site owner to upload his/her own images nice and easy
Images that get resized automatically, by default, once published on the website...
The website's both a public-facing site and an easy to use private back-end, where students and parents can communicate with the site owner.
8. Playtika, Israel
We can't put together a list of the most popular Drupal websites in Asia and not include Playtika, the leading gaming company based in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Since Drupal ships with a whole collection of responsive tools and responsive themes, it made it a lot smoother for their UI and UX design to look great on both their web and mobile websites.
9. Al Bawaba, Jordan
This independent digital news, blogging, and media platform — the largest one in the Middle East — is on all the “Top 10 Drupal websites” selections.
Why did they decide to build their digital presence with Drupal?
because they have a large, diverse, and expanding content team — different types of editors, researchers, journalists, publishers — so they decided to leverage Drupal's system of user roles and its flexible content workflow
because they depended on Drupal's powerful SEO features
because they were facing increasingly high volumes of content (multimedia content here included) and Drupal's built with content-packed websites in mind
An efficient digital media assets solution and a conveniently scalable CMS were critical for this content producer and distributor in the Middle East.
So, Drupal was the only CMS framework that checked all the requirements off their list.
10. Taiwan Environmental Information Center
Another NGO — the “product” of a larger non-profit and non-governmental organization: Taiwan Environmental Information Association —that's earned its place among the best Drupal websites in Asia.
Their website stands out as an extensive network of environment-related information: editorials, green events, feature articles, news...
Now, the reasons why they trusted Drupal with their digital presence are clear to anyone:
it's open-source
it empowers the content team to add, edit, and publish content (multiple types of content) on the fly
it's extensible and conveniently scalable
it's non-technical user-friendly
The END!
This is how our list of “top 10 Drupal websites in Asia looks like”.
What other websites would you have added?
Image by Lizbet Palmer from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Apr 21'2020
You already agree on this: web accessibility benefits users with permanent, temporary, and situational disabilities. But why is accessibility important for you?
For your business...
How does having an accessible website benefit you directly?
And that's precisely what you'll find out in this post:
7 clear benefits that you can “reap” from making your website ADA-compliant.
1. Why Is Accessibility Important For Your Business? 7 Ways It Benefits You Directly
1.1. You Improve the Visitor Experience for... Everyone
Source: disabled-world.com
“Who benefits from web accessibility?”
All users.
As you adopt all the good practices to improve your web pages' accessibility and you:
use a clear and simple language
make sure that you have enough color contrast on your site
add video captions
… you make your website easier to use for all users.
Tip 1: a video caption benefits both users with hearing loss and... any user who watches your video content in a loud environment.
Tip 2: an adequate color contrast benefits not only users with low contrast sensitivity but pretty much anyone. It makes your content more visible and easier to understand for all users.
How does this translate into a clear benefit for you?
Better user experience for all your website's visitors means:
a higher impact on your SEO rankings
more traffic on your website
better user engagement
a higher conversion rate
…
Should I carry on?
1.2. You Grow/Future-Proof Your Customer Base
Source: canada.ca
North America is aging.
By making your website accessible, you ensure that it accommodates the needs of both:
users born with a disability
users acquiring certain levels of disabilities as they age; seniors who still want to able to access the web
In other words: you'll be simultaneously growing and future-proofing your customer base.
1.3. You Minimize the Risk of Facing Legal Action
“Why is accessibility important?”
Because it's a legal requirement.
Ignore it and you face the risk an accessibility lawsuit...
Is minimizing the risk of being prosecuted a strong enough benefit for you?
1.4. You Develop a Mindset for Innovation
“Why is accessibility important in web design?”
Because it challenges you to solve all types of unanticipated problems and thus... to get creative.
The constraint of adapting your design so that it incorporates a whole set of accessibility features challenges you to... come up with innovative solutions.
And to preserve that mindset for innovation in the long term.
1.5. You Boost Your SEO Efforts
Just think about it: some of the best practices for improving a website's accessibility are to:
add ALT-text to images
write clear and concise copy
go for a clutter-free page layout
design with consistency in mind
...
But these are all good SEO practices, as well.
“So, why is accessibility good for business?”
Because, by making your website more accessible, you're also making it more... SEO-friendly.
1.6. You Improve Your Brand Reputation
Source: Acquia.com
“Why is accessibility important for your business?”
Because it helps you grow your brand reputation.
By making sure that all your website visitors are granted equal rights and easy access to your web content, you build a positive reputation around your brand.
1.7. You Improve Your Page Loading Time
Studies have proven it:
By improving a page's level of accessibility, you improve its speed score, as well.
The main idea rests the same:
As you implement features considered to be designed “exclusively” for users with disabilities, you're making your website a better place for all users.
And “faster” does mean “better”. So this is definitely a key benefit to keep in mind.
2. What Are the Most Important Aspects of Web Accessibility?
Now that you have multiple answers to your “Why” question — “Why is accessibility important?” — let me try to answer your “What” question, as well:
What makes a website accessible?
But first, here's a list of goals to set for your company website's content and design to be accessible:
To be perceivable: are your design elements and text visible and easily identifiable by all users?
To be robust: is your content robust enough to be easily parsed through and interpreted by various assistive technologies?
To be operable: make sure that all users are able to carry out the actions that your website's UI requires them to perform
To be understandable: is the information delivered on your website clear enough? How about the UI and the actions that it requires users to perform?
2.1. Color Contrast
An accessibility feature that benefits all your website visitors:
those that have a sight condition (elderly visitors here included)
those accessing your website from their mobile devices
those accessing it in a poorly lit environment
anyone accessing your website
Source: w3c.github.io
Implementing a good color contrast between the background and the foreground makes your design elements more visible and the text more readable.
And everybody wins.
2.2. Text to Speech
Why would you bother to implement this technology on your company website?
In other words:
Who benefit(s) from this accessibility feature?
users with learning disabilities
users with literacy difficulties or learning a new language
users with low vision (seniors here included)
all users who just love to... multitask (e.g. imagine yourself driving your car and listening to an e-book)
It makes your website content accessible to more people.
2.3. Clear and Constant Feedback
Remember to provide feedback — clear instructions and error/success messages — for every action that users need to complete or have already completed.
Who'll benefit from it?
users with cognitive and learning disabilities
users with lower computer skills
anyone accessing your company website
Providing clear instructions and constant feedback helps all users complete their tasks (e.g. fill in forms) on your website quick and easy.
It makes your website conveniently predictable to everyone accessing it.
2.4. Video Captions
Why is accessibility important? Because it turns your website into a “welcoming” place for everyone.
In the case of captions (or “subtitles” if you wish), it makes your video content accessible to:
people with hearing loss
people accessing your website from a loud or quiet environment
Just imagine yourself having to go through a video, in a crowded place, when don't have your headphones with you.
It's another one of those win-win accessible situations.
2.5. Clear, Clutter-Free Layout and Design
And here, the main benefits are obvious.
A simple design:
loads faster
bubbles up to the user experience
impacts your site's SEO rankings
Keep your website clutter-free by removing:
all the unnecessary design elements that make it a bit too clunky and more difficult to navigate
all the non-relevant and non-useful content
all the unnecessary code still lingering in there
Perform an audit of the menus, text sections, and links on your site and... start decluttering it.
This way, you'll improve the experience of all the users, making your website:
faster
easier to scan through
more usable
2.6. Voice Recognition
Imagine yourself driving (again) and having to search for a particular piece of information on a website.
If that website has a voice recognition system incorporated, it should go smoothly.
If not... you might consider switching to one of its direct competitors.
See my point here?
Implementing voice recognition on your website doesn't benefit just users with various physical disabilities.
It benefits anyone who simply prefers uttering search phrases instead of entering them in the search bar.
2.7. Keyboard Navigation
Make sure that users can easily navigate your website using their keyboards only.
Word of caution: are there any animated navigation buttons that unfold drop-down menus? If so, are they perfectly usable for visitors who depend on screen readers to navigate your site?
2.8. Use of ALT-Tags
Go for useful, genuinely helpful descriptions over... the too generic, perfectly SEO-optimized ones.
Accessibility is about making all users feel confident and comfortable.
Therefore, impersonal image descriptions, centered around focus keywords, are anything but helpful to them.
2.9. Accessible Buttons and Controls
Making your clicking or tapping areas:
larger
featuring enough color contrast
featuring clear and actionable title text (“sign up”, “download”, “log out”)
.. will make your website more usable for:
visitors with a certain disability
those with a limited digital dexterity
those accessing it from their mobile devices
The END!
Does this answer your questions and dilemmas on “Why is accessibility important for my business”?
Now, we're quite curious to know:
What accessibility feature has had the biggest impact on the user experience that your website provides?
Image by athree23 from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Apr 10'2020
Let me guess: for you, the best free SEO plugin for WordPress is the one that
is feature-packed
is quick to set up
is super easy to use, featuring a straightforward UI
automates common SEO optimization tasks such as setting the meta-information
is regularly updated
“plays well” with other plugins
“Am I asking too much from an optimization plugin?” you might ask yourself.
Not at all.These are all legitimate expectations.
Now, we've done some digging and put together a top 5 WordPress SEO plugins that meet your criteria.
So, without further ado, here are the finalists:
1. The SEO Framework
If you're looking for a lightweight optimization plugin tailored for smaller-sized websites, this might just be the one for you.
Here's how it works:
It displays color-coded guidelines that point out to the aspects on that page that you need to improve.
And that's not all:
If you hover over with your mouse pointer, it'll trigger useful notes on how precisely you can optimize those specific elements on the page.
In short: it provides you with both the WHAT and the HOW to optimize (on) your website.
You'd want to go with The SEO Framework because:
it's lightweight
it provides you with good documentation and enough filters to customize your SEO settings
it's effectively simple (or “simply effective”): there are no extraneous features, it's one of those WordPress SEO plugins that does precisely what you expect it to do
it's open-source
it has clean, well-structured code
it ships with a UI that integrates seamlessly into WordPress
Source: quicksprout.com
2. Rank Math, Probably the Best Free SEO Plugin for WordPress
Source: Ahrefs.com
As Joshua Hardwick from Ahrefs admitted it, as well, Rank Math is the free SEO plugin for WordPress with the most intuitive UI.
And if, to the convenience of an easy to use interface, you add a heavy load of SEO features, your quest for the best optimization plugin might just end there.
But let's see precisely what its set of features and selling points include:
it's free
it's easy to set up
it comes with built-in redirection
it integrates with Google Search Console
it provides you with full Google Schema Markup (rich snippets... 14 different snippets, to be more specific)
it enables you to keep track of your Google Keyword rankings
it provides you with card previews for Facebook and Twitter
it generates internal link suggestions
it monitors 404 errors: it keeps track of the users landing on “dead” pages and provides you with useful data on the URL of those “problem” pages and on the no. of times they've been accessed
3. Redirection
This WordPress SEO plugins comparison had to include a reliable plugin for implementing 301 redirects, right?
Well, here it is.
And here are its strongest pros:
it's so very easy to use: just enter the source and the target URLs, click “add redirect” and you're good to go
it's free
it provides support for other 3xx redirects as well
Tip: if you're in the “advanced users” league, you can go even further and use regex matching for redirects (and ignore URL parameters, trailing slashes, etc.)
Simplicity at its best...
4. All in One SEO Pack
If you're looking for a “swiss tool” to boost your SEO efforts with, this might just be the one.
The All in One SEO Pack plugin comes packed with all the essential SEO features you need. And it makes a great option if you're not an SEO guru yourself.
If you only want to help your blog (or startup website)... gain some traction in the search results.
Source: Quicksprout.com
But let's see which are the specific features that make it a strong candidate for the title of “the best free SEO plugin for WordPress”:
it sets itself apart from Yoast (its more popular “twin plugin”, some say), with unique features such as canonical tag support, auto-generated description tags, a “bad bot” blocker
it “spoils” you with a clean, intuitive dashboard
its essential (free) features are robust enough to power your SEO strategy if it's a basic blog (or a small website) that you need to boost in the search engines
5. EWWW Image Optimizer
We couldn't have left out precisely an image compression tool from our list of top 5 WordPress SEO plugins now, could we?
EWWW Image Optimizer comes as the most effective free alternative to the well-famed ShortPixel image optimizer.
Its biggest selling point? It's very easy to use.
You get to compress your images in bulk, on the go. And by “images” I do mean the previously uploaded ones, as well.
Source: themeisle.com
But let's see what are its most “tempting” features:
it provides you with options for lossless and lossy image compression
it puts no limit on the number and the size of the image files that you upload
it provides you with JPG, PDF, PNG, and GIF optimization support
its free version carries out the optimization tasks on your web server; no need for you to sign up in order to use this plugin
And that last feature becomes particularly important if it's a privacy-focused website that you need to optimize for speed.
Word of caution: since EWWW uses your own server to perform the optimizations, it can put a strain on it if you go overboard with the no. of images that you use it for.
Honorable Mention: The Yoast SEO Plugin
Why did we leave the “rockstar” plugin out from our list?
Isn't Yoast the best free SEO plugin for WordPress, according to many users?
Source: backlinko.com
Yes and no...
Yes, it's by far the most popular (and the most comprehensive) SEO plugin for WordPress.
But there are certain aspects which have blurred its “rockstar aura”:
the annoying paid aids
the reputation of slowing down the back-ends of the websites using it (its features aren't powerful enough to compensate for that)
the fact that it trades looks for functionality: its UI is not one of the prettiest ones
The END!
What's the best free SEO plugin for WordPress according to your own feature requirements and criteria?
Is it included in this list? And why do you prefer it?
Let us know in the comments below.
Image by tomekwalecki from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Apr 08'2020
They're visually-appealing, highly popular, built on top of robust structures, so that they should "cope with" with huge amounts of traffic and content... These are but some of the things that the top 10 Drupal websites in Australia have in common.
But which are they, more precisely? Australia's finest examples of websites using Drupal?
We've done our research and put together a 10 best list for you.
Let's dive right into it:
1. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation(ANSTO)
"Australia's research and development organization, and the center of Australian nuclear expertise..." (source: directory.gov.au)
And the presentation could go on with other superlatives to "wow" you with:
Australia's most important science infrastructure
(one of) Australia's largest public research organizations
it sums up more than 1000 experts that use nuclear techniques to find the answer to various medical, environmental, and industrial challenges
A significant content load? A large team of content editors in need of the most robust tools to streamline their content management workflow with?
The web project had Drupal 8 written all over it...
And it quickly became one of the top 10 Drupal websites in Australia.
Why Drupal?
Because Drupal provides the best editing experience. Content managers are free to build new custom pages on their own, by just selecting and assembling pre-designed blocks.
Not to mention that the "component-based" approach to design ensures consistency throughout the website and, implicitly... the best user experience, as well.
2. University of Technology, Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia's #1 university and the 10th best one in the world, also has its website running on Drupal.
Drupal is the platform that powers a lot of higher education websites worldwide, so... no surprise here, right?
The reasons why UTS chose Drupal are obvious:
their multi-site structure incorporates no less than 150 UTS sub-sites
the "cluster" of mini-sites needed a central content hub and a unified platform
the internal content team needed enough freedom and flexibility to create, edit, and publish content across the entire network of sub-sites
they needed to integrate lots of third-party systems (e.g. systems sourcing course information)
In short:
Drupal makes the perfect choice for multi-site setups
it integrates seamlessly with third-party apps
it provides the best editorial experience
3. The Australian Government
Undoubtedly one of the top 10 Drupal websites in Australia.
"The Government of Australia is standardizing on Drupal for hundreds of government departments and agencies across Australia, starting with the country’s homepage. Drupal enhances digital services to millions of citizens." (source: Drupal.org)
Why Drupal?
For multiple reasons:
Drupal's ideal for multi-site architectures
Drupal provides a granular permission system
it integrates with lots of third-party services and solutions (payment systems, citizen service centers, various "latest news" sources)
it's one of the most secure CMS platforms: Drupal has its own dedicated Security Team and a foolproof process for monitoring, identifying, and publishing any security issues
it's flexible, giving unmatched freedom to content editors and website admins: anyone from the internal team can update content on the website quick and easy
Source: Drupal.org
4. Bunjil Place
The "home of arts and entertainment in the City of Casey" is Drupal-powered.
And it's probably one of the most visually impressive examples of Drupal websites from Australia.
A high-trafficked website, that "bids on" Drupal 8 to provide an interactive user experience.
Now, if we were to list just some of the strongest reasons why Drupal was the best option for this Australian website:
the diversified content hosted on the website (text, video, eye-catching images), that falls into multiple sections and subsections
the need for a new responsive design
the need to incorporate some powerful user-oriented functionalities (e.g. visitors can easily book spaces in the palace for their future events)
Drupal was the only choice here...
5. The Australian
Drupal's already famous for being the best CMS solution for news websites.
And the CMS platform is behind the online presence of "The Australian" — Australia's national news brand — as well.
A high-trafficked, content-packed website, with content that needs to be updated on the fly, on a regular basis.
They couldn't have opted for another platform than Drupal...
6. Australian Conservation Foundation, One of the Top 10 Drupal Websites in Australia
Australia's national environment organization — over 600,000 people — has its website running on Drupal.
It's a campaign-driven site, one of the most popular Drupal-based websites in Australia, that leverages the CMS platform's top features to:
manage all their content workflows with great ease
engage their member database and anyone willing to address urgent environmental problems via social networking, donation processing, event management, analytics, fundraising
A website that needed to withstand high amounts of traffic and to support complex content workflows: Drupal was the most suitable CMS solution.
7. Australian War Memorial
"The Memorial's purpose is to commemorate the sacrifice of those Australians who have died in war or on operational service and those who have served our nation in times of conflict." (source: awm.gov.au)
One of the top 10 Drupal websites in Australia that turned this CMS platform into a reliable publishing tool for all the historians, researchers, and designers accessing it.
We're talking here about a content-heavy website, hosting content that ranges from:
war-related material
to extensive archive
to a database of unique collections of film footage, artworks, sound recordings
to articles on Australia's military history
And where there's rich and varied content, that needs to be handled with ease by various internal teams, there's Drupal, as well.
Drupal with its:
robust inline content creation and editing tools
sophisticated access control system
8. Charles Darwin University
One of Australia's public universities and one of the world's most reputed universities (among the top 2% universities on the globe) has its website running on Drupal.
And for all the self-evident reasons:
they needed to provide internal users with the best experience: Drupal enables content editors to create their custom course pages by simply putting together pre-built components
they also needed to provide an intuitive search experience to all the external users: Drupal makes it easy for students to find, review courses, and sign up
9. International Business Times Australia
The Australian version of this digital news publication is built on Drupal.
But is it of any surprise that the go-to source of financial news in Australia has chosen this CMS platform to build its online presence on?
After all:
news publications are Drupal's "specialty"
Drupal's already famed for powering some of the most content-intensive websites in the world
Drupal's gained a reputation for being the CMS that provides the best content editing experience: the internal team at International Business Times Australia can create, update, and publish new content on the go
10. Car News Australia
One of the top 10 Drupal websites in Australia, that stands out from the crowd as a high-trafficked one.
Its complex content ecosystem has turned Drupal into the Carsguide team's only option.
The site's an intricate network of 7 different sections — "buy + sell", "reviews", "news", "advice"... — that unfold, each, into "clusters" of multiple sub-sections.
A content network that called for a CMS with particularly powerful content creation and editing features.
A content-rich architecture that's now powered by Drupal.
The END!
We're curious now: what other famous brands are on your own top 10 Drupal websites in Australia?
Photo by Iván Lojko on Unsplash
Adriana Cacoveanu / Apr 03'2020
You've run your audit, you've got your list of web accessibility issues: now what?
Where do you start?
Before you get to the point where you ask yourself “How do I fix web accessibility issues on my site?” you wonder: “Which issue to address first?”
How do you prioritize accessibility problems?
By noticeability, by severity or by tractability? What criteria do you use?
And this is the question that this post will answer to.
It's a list of 8 simple ways to prioritize the issues included in your accessibility audit report:
If Your Website's Image-Heavy, ALT Text Becomes a Priority
If You Host Lots of Videos, Adding Captions Is Critical
Let the Data on Your Target Audience Dictate Your Priorities
If the Issue Is Repetitive for Screen Readers, Then It's High Priority
Put on Your List of Web Accessibility Those that Impact the User Navigation
Prioritize the Issues that Prevent Users from Submitting Forms
Prioritize The Accessibility Issues Detected on Key Pages of Your Site
Prioritize Low Complexity, but High-Value Issues
1. If Your Website's Image-Heavy, ALT Text Becomes a Priority
Do you have lots of images on your website?
Then adding ALT text is a top priority, by default.
2. If You Host Lots of Videos, Adding Captions Is Critical
Do you have lots of video content on your site? Then adding captions should be one of the first tasks to carry out after you've run your web accessibility audit.
3. Let the Data on Your Target Audience Dictate Your Priorities
Customer analytics should be the main criteria to use when you put together a list of web accessibility issues.
How many people in your customer base use screen magnifiers to zoom in specific sections on your website?
Are there users depending on screen readers in order to interact with your website?
What does the analytics data tell you?
It's those stats that determine how you should prioritize your usability problems. And how you should design your website accessibility plan.
Source: Medium.com
In this case, categorizing (and therefore prioritizing) web accessibility issues by their WCAG level (A, AA, AAA) is a bit rudimentary.
The data that you have on your user target group might reveal to you that complying with certain AA (or “nice to have”) standards is more important for your audience than complying with some A standards...
In short: start with those issues that have a direct impact on your specific customer base.
4. If The Issue Is Repetitive for Screen Readers, Then It's High Priority
Take an issue listed in the W3C accessibility checklist as common as... link names. It says there that the displayed text should be unique, meaningful and descriptive enough.
Has your automated accessibility testing tool identified multiple instances of this issue?
Do they seem to be so repetitive that the experience of any website visitor using a screen reader is just... terrible?
Then you should address them ASAP.
5. Put on Your List of Web Accessibility Issues Those that Impact the User Navigation
You've run your web accessibility audit and now you need to prioritize the issues detected.
An effective criterion to use for setting up a hierarchy of “errors” is the impact that those issues have on users' navigation experience.
For, if those issues prevent users who depend on assistive technologies from navigating your website, they'll get discouraged/frustrated. And leave your site.
For instance, your accessibility audit might detect a problematic heading structure. Which, by the way, falls into the AA category.
If that heading structure:
skips certain levels
or, even worse, there is no heading structure at all
or it contains too much irrelevant information
… and is the main “culprit” for the poor navigation experience on your website, then you should make it a priority.
6. Prioritize the Issues that Prevent Users from Submitting Forms
For there's nothing that says “I don't care about you” like web accessibility issues that stop users from filling in a form on your site.
In short, make sure you tackle those first.
I'm talking here about usability issues like:
unhelpful error text messages like “please enter correct information”
unaccessible inline error messages
… that make it impossible for these website visitors to submit any form.
7. Prioritize the Web Accessibility Issues Identified on Key Pages
Build your web accessibility test plan around the most important pages on your website.
Source: support.siteimprove.com
For instance, optimizing a page with a Help article isn't a top priority.
But optimizing for accessibility your:
Product page
Login page
Checkout page
User Registration page
Contact Us page
Feedback or Survey page
… should be listed among your top priorities.
Tip: a common web accessibility mistake is to ask people with disabilities to enter information from their paper receipts on the survey page. Make sure this problem is among the first ones that you address.
So, before you go ahead and add problems to your top list of web accessibility issues, you might want to ask yourself some key questions:
“What's the scope of the page presenting accessibility issues?”
“What's the traffic on the page that you're about to optimize?”
8. Prioritize Low Complexity, but High-Value Issues
And now you have your answer to the question:
“What if I have a high-value issue, but with low complexity like... defining page titles for dynamic pages on my website?”
Final Word: Internal Prioritization Is Crucial
Putting together a list of web accessibility issues to tackle first depends on your website's:
audience
content
functionality
Sticking to an “A level vs AA level” technique for figuring out what problems to fix first is... a bit too simplistic.
For even not all A-level accessibility standards are of equal importance and not all AA-level issues are just “nice to haves”:
Source: www.w3.org
Your turn now:
What criteria do you use to prioritize the accesilbity issues that you identify on your website?
Are there other prioritization techniques that I should add to this list?
Let me know in the comments below.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Mar 27'2020
Drupal voice search has gone from trend to standard these days.
So, you can't help ask yourself:
"How do I enable search based on voice recognition on my Drupal website?"
And that's precisely the question that I'm about to answer in this blog post.
That, along with all the other ones that must be "haunting" you:
How does voice search impact my revenues?
How do I optimize my website content for voice search queries?
How do I set up a custom voice search engine on my Drupal site?
Can I even build a voice-powered app with Drupal? How?
1. How Does Voice Search Impact Your Traffic, Conversions, Revenues?
“Voice Shopping Set to Jump to $40 Billion By 2022, Rising From $2 Billion Today“ (source: prnewswire.com)
How does making your Drupal website voice search-friendly translate into higher conversion rates?
The logic is simple:
it's more convenient for users to speak to the search bar than to type in their queries in order to find the needed products or services
by allowing them this convenience, you improve their experience on your website and that'll bubble up to your web traffic, conversions... revenues
"Becoming voice-first is going to be the new mobile first" (DrupalCon Nashville 2018)
In other words:
understanding how search engines provide accurate answers to users' vocal queries
optimizing your content to the patterns that you will have identified
… will have a huge impact on the user experience on your Drupal site.
Source: Gartner.com
And great user experience is what sets high ranking websites apart from... the rest.
2. Here's How You Make Your Content Cater to Voice Search Queries
Spoiler alert: I'll be pinpointing just the main techniques to apply for optimizing your content for voice search.
If you feel like delving deeper into this topic, we have a full post focused solely on actionable tips for optimizing your website for voice search.
That being said, here's the list of essential voice search SEO techniques to implement:
2.1. Incorporate Short, Simple, Clear Answers Into Your Content
30 words at most, according to Backlinko's research.
2.2. Fine-Tune the FAQ Page on Your Drupal Site
This page alone plays a key role in your voice search optimization strategy. It's there that search engines often “extract” their answers from.
2.3. Use Natural Language When Writing Your Content
A user would speak to a search bar as he/she would ask a question to a person. Which is significantly different from him/her interacting with a text search box via a robotic keyword search entry.
2.4. Configuring Drupal for Voice Search: Optimize Your Content for Google's Featured Snippets
I'm not going to get into details here, but there are lots of highly valuable MOZ blog posts on this topic that I recommend you have a look at.
2.5. Center Your Drupal Voice Search Strategy Around Question Keywords
“How to...”, “What to...”, “Why use...”
2.6. Make Sure to Include (Really) Long-Tail Keywords Into Your Content
5+ word keywords, I mean.
3. Set Up a Drupal Voice Search Engine in Just a Few Steps
How do you create a search system based on voice on your Drupal website?
Image by Kaufdex from Pixabay
Here are the easy steps to creating a custom voice search engine with Expertrec:
First of all, you need a google tag manager account, a Gmail id, access to your Drupal admin dashboard and a valid sitemap
Set up an account on https://cse.expertrec.com??platform=cse using your Gmail ID
Enter your website's URL login to your Drupal admin panel and install google tag manager: https://www.drupal.org/project/google_tag
Enter your google tag manager ID and save the configuration
Access https://cse.expertrec.com/csedashboard/home/code and copy that code
Add the first part of the code in your control panel, using Google tag manager
Use the custom HTML option and configure the trigger to place it on all the web pages on your Drupal site where you want the voice search enabled
Go to Structure-> Block layout-> Header ->Place block-> Add custom block-> click on source and enter: <ci-search></ci-search> (opt for "full HTML"). It's this code that will display a search box in your website's header
Hit the Save button and finally, navigate to UI customization->features-> enable voice search
And that's it: 9 simple steps to add voice search to your Drupal site.
4. Building Your Own Voice App: Why Would You Want to Use Drupal?
Now, let's say that you've optimized your Drupal website for voice search, improved your search ranking and given your traffic a major boost.
And you've decided to go further and... build your first voice app, as well.
Why would you use Drupal to build it?
Here are some of the most solid reasons:
Drupal provides you with a sophisticated user permissions and access control system
it allows you to restrict access to content
it provides you with fieldable content
it ships with a pre-built front-end Drupal
it enables you to put together complex content workflows
it provides multi-language support out of the box
it provides you with an API module
Note: in the end, it's your use case, along with all the specific feature needs deriving from there, that should influence your final decision.
But how would your Drupal voice app work, more precisely?
Here's the whole "mechanism" in the back-end, summed up to 4 stages:
the user talks to the voice assistant (Alexa, Siri, Cortana...)
the voice assistant talks to Drupal
Drupal provides an answer to the voice assistant
the voice assistant delivers the answer to the user
Chatbot API is the module that makes communication between Drupal and the AI voice assistant possible. It integrates, out of the box, with Dialogue Flow and Alexa.
I won't go into detail on the basics of a voice-powered app and the fundamentals of a VUI design.
Yet, I recommend you watched the DrupalCon session on Powering an Alexa App with Drupal. It includes a handful of useful tips and actionable information on building a Drupal-powered voice search.
In this chapter, my sole intention was to outline those Drupal features and functionalities that make it the best candidate for a voice app.
The END!
I won't hide it: I'm curious whether you've already got your Drupal website voice-search friendly or not just yet.
What strategies have you implemented so far to make your content more findable for vocal queries?
Have you set up your own Drupal voice search engine?
Are there any obstacles that Drupal challenged you with? That made the whole optimization for voice search more complex than expected?
Let us know in the comments below.
Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash
Adriana Cacoveanu / Mar 23'2020
In today's post, I'll share with you a selection of 10 European websites powered by Drupal.
From:
the most famous higher education website in Europe running on Drupal
to the most popular newspaper-website in France
to the most visited recipes and cooking website in the UK
... I'll put the spotlight on the top 10 Drupal websites in Europe.
So, without further ado, here are the names listed on Drupal's European hall of fame:
1. BBC Good Food, One of the Top 10 Drupal Websites in Europe
The most popular recipe website in the UK and one of the most visited Drupal websites in Europe.
The BBC Good Food team had very clear objectives when they chose Drupal for their rebuild:
to provide engaging content on their platform
to deliver a seamless experience across all devices
to deliver a unified experience to its international audience
to guarantee their visitors a powerful search and intuitive navigation
And Drupal was the only CMS to check all the goals off their list.
Here are just some of its features that made it the only choice for the BBC Good Food rebuild:
scalability: Drupal's built to scale up and withstand massive amounts of traffic
sophisticated content workflow: from Drupal's robust WYSIWYG editor to the role-based access control system, to the preview feature and the powerful content editing and publishing tools, BBC Good Food's content team can now add, edit, and upload various types of content... on the fly, across all devices
built-in multilingual support: the BBC Good Food website was redesigned with a global audience in mind
“We rebuilt the site in Drupal, which will allow us to spin out versions of the site internationally, for example with the same core content but reflecting different language and market trends, and with some local content on top of it. But we still need to develop plans for this.” (Chris Kerwin, BBC Worldwide’s head of publishing)
Other popular cooking sites built on Drupal: 24 Kitchen, Bosscaffe, Alevri.
2. Joinup, a Collaborative Platform Created by the European Commission
A Drupal-powered collaboration platform that contains a heavy load of content in the form of:
news
discussions
case studies
events
interoperability solutions (guidelines, software, code-lists, vocabularies, taxonomies, licenses, organizational assets)
“Interoperability solutions” that users (public administrations, citizens, and businesses) can share, find, re-use, and get inspired by to develop and implement new ones.
Now, you can just imagine that:
such a high volume of data
such a diversified ecosystem of content
... have turned Drupal into the unique CMS option to consider for Joinup.
Its excellent content capabilities and high scalability have made Drupal the best solution.
“On 4 October 2017, a brand new version of the platform, based on Drupal 8, went live. This migration from Drupal 6 to Drupal 8 was mainly driven by the fact that the maintenance of version 6 by the Drupal community was coming to an end and, also, by the performance and scalability improvements introduced by Drupal 8.” (source: Joinup.ec.europa.eu)
3. Jysk
The Danish retail chain is a leader in the European market of furniture and household goods, with online stores in 20 countries. Which makes its website (or better said "network of sites"), one of the most famous Drupal websites in Europe.
Why did the company choose Drupal to power its web presence? Because:
Drupal provides them with a multi-site architecture: Jysk's online presence translates into 20 different domains with similar feature sets and functionalities, sharing the same codebase, yet with different databases and configurations
Drupal's flexible: which enabled them to come up with fully customed e-commerce solutions, robust enough to cope with their complex business processes and backend systems
Drupal provides them with powerful content management features
Drupal provides them with multi-language support right out of the box: a crucial functionality considering that their website content needs to be translated into 20 different languages
Drupal's built to cope with high volumes of traffic: which, for Jysk, means about 60 million page views per month
4. Carrefour.fr
Why did the leading retailer in Europe choose Drupal for its e-commerce website?
For all the obvious reasons:
Drupal's editorial workflow: it empowers content creators to edit the content on carrefour.fr quick and easy and as often as needed
Drupal's one of the most secure open-source CMSs: an aspect of critical importance when handling lots of customer data
Drupal's system of roles and permissions: the granular access control system allows editors/admins to monitor who edits/publishes different types of content on the website (from product descriptions to prices)
Drupal's built with high-traffic websites in mind: massive volumes of traffic and intense e-commerce operations is what Carrfour.fr, one of the top 10 Drupal websites in Europe, needs to withstand
Drupal's online payment system: and here we're talking about a high volume of online payments being carried out daily
Drupal's equipped for content-heavy websites: hundreds of products, prices, product-specific promotions... no wonder that this retailer chose Drupal for powering its e-commerce website with: Drupal's the robust, go-to option for content-packed websites
5. Sevilla FC
Sevillafc.es is one of the most popular Drupal websites in Europe.
Why did the football club go with Drupal for their website?
Because:
they needed to appeal to an international audience and Drupal 8 provides multilingual support out of the box
they needed to get their new website equipped for high peaks of traffic and Drupal's already famous for powering some of the world's most visited websites
they needed a CMS that would enable their administrators and content team to add, update and publish content quick and easy and Drupal provides some of the most powerful content management workflow tools
they needed powerful multimedia capabilities, that Drupal provided their website with
they needed to set up a content management workflow for their mobile app content, as well: Drupal enables them to update and distribute content from a single entry point to their entire network
A "network" that includes their website, mobile app, and third party system.
6. Cancer Research UK
Among the top 10 Drupal websites in Europe, Cancerreaserchuk.org stands out with its vision:
“Our vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.”
It's no surprise to anyone why Drupal was chosen: it powers the websites of some globally known NGO, charity and non-profit organizations.
What I'd like to draw your attention to, in the case of Cancer Research UK in relation to Drupal, is Drupal Commerce powering its whole network of online shops.
The main goal, when bringing all the shops together on the same codebase was:
to deliver a seamless shopping experience
all while preserving each shop's identity
7. University of Oxford
Multiple individual sites under the same umbrella, providing a seamless, yet site-specific user experience.
Multiple departments of the same university in full control over their web presence... Does it ring any bell?
The website of the University of Oxford couldn't have been powered by another CMS than Drupal.
And the Application Development team there, at Oxford, dared to take Drupal's capabilities even further: they developed Oxford Mosaic, a Drupal multisite solution.
“Oxford Mosaic provides an easy-to-use interface for publishing attractive, responsive websites. Centrally maintained and fully supported, Mosaic is a cost-effective and sustainable web publishing solution.“ (source: Meetup.com)
By using Drupal:
creating new customizable web pages and even whole new sub-sites, from the ground up
handling a massive volume of content, highly diversified content, ranging from news and events to university research and information on the admission process
withstanding high volumes of web traffic, with all the students, faculty, and alumni accessing the website on a daily basis
… became easier.
8. The Paris Opera
Paris Opera's website is another one of those Drupal website examples that stand out. Like many other large organizations in Europe (and worldwide), they chose Drupal for being:
reliable
secure
robust
flexible to accommodate all development needs
9. Le Figaro
The online presence of the largest national newspapers in France is Drupal-powered.
No wonder why:
like any high-traffic newspaper website, it depends on Drupal's robustness for facing the challenge of live videos, media, and feeds-packed web pages
Le Figaro depends on Drupal's capabilities to deliver loads of varied content at a high page loading speed
it depends on Drupal's powerful features to support its social features (e.g. the comment sections on their articles)
10. Lush Cosmetics
Lush.com sets itself apart as one of the top 10 Drupal websites in Europe.
It 's also one of the most complex ones, from a content and user experience standpoint. A Drupal website where content and comments blend in beautifully.
Now, let me pinpoint just the strongest reasons why this company chose Drupal:
it stores a large catalog of products, with lots of interactive features that bubble up to the user experience: star ratings, user reviews, wishlists, charity pot
it's “packed” with tons of varied content that needs to be edited and published quick and easy: product videos and guides, ingredients lists, articles
it provides a seamless multi-channel customer experience
it addresses a global audience
In other words, Lush selected Drupal because:
it supports Lush's complex editorial workflow
it provides enough flexibility so the Lush team can easily update and customize various sections on the website
it integrates beautifully with third-party systems (various payment gateway, for instance)
it enables them to provide highly personalized experiences to users accessing their website from countries all around the globe
it grants the best user experience on all devices: their Drupal website's conveniently responsive
it's built to “fuel” even a heavy and complex content infrastructure like Lush's
The END!
These are the 10 best European Drupal websites.
What do you say: do you find it accurate or have we done certain websites an injustice?
Let us know, in the comments section below, if you agree with our top 10 Drupal websites in Europe.
Adriana Cacoveanu / Mar 19'2020
"How do I test my website for accessibility?" And right after you type in this question you discover that there are dozens of free website accessibility testing tools to choose from. So: why use Siteimprove?
In this post, I'll answer your key questions about Siteimprove:
What does Siteimprove do?
Why use precisely this accessibility evaluation tool?
How to use the Siteimprove Accessibility Checker?
Siteimprove vs Axe: what are the key differences?
Monsido vs Siteimprove: which is the best web accessibility testing tool for you?
Drupal 8 Siteimprove: what does it do?
So, let's dive in:
1. How Does the Siteimprove Accessibility Checker Work?
"The Siteimprove Browser Extension is a Chrome/Firefox plugin that allows you to see page specific DCI scores and if a CMS deep link is set-up, it also allows you to fix content to improve the scores directly in your CMS during your browser session." (source: Siteimprove.com)
Once added to your browser toolbar, you can use Siteimprove to identify accessibility issues on specific web pages. At any given time.
It provides you with:
explanations on how they impact the user experience
clear recommendations on how to address them
Free, handy, effective. These are the best 3 words to describe the Siteimprove extension.
Note: since all evaluation is performed in your browser, Siteimprove guarantees you a secure scanning of your non-public pages, multi-step forms, password-protected pages and pages with dynamic content.
2. Why Use Siteimprove over Other Website Accessibility Testing Tools?
What powerful features make it stand out from the crowd of automated accessibility testing tools that you could use?
I've selected the 8 most valuable ones:
2.1. Monitors all broken links and spelling mistakes on your web page
Maybe you consider these issues to be mere... negligences to be put at the end of your priority list.
But just imagine how much these "details" could affect a visually impaired user.
This is where the Siteimprove Accessibility Checker comes in. It keeps your website under "surveillance". Ready to spot and to highlight any broken link, any little spelling mistakes that it detects. Or any other quality issues that it identifies.
2.2. Generates an accessibility report for you to analyze
From ALT missing attributes to accessibility issues spotted in your tables and forms, the Siteimprove report lists all the problem areas to focus on.
A handy overview that you can use to define all future tasks that need to be carried out in order to improve your website's accessibility.
2.3. Pinpoints accessibility issues
It'll highlight them all right on-page and in-code.
In other words, you don't need to do a research on all the latest accessibility guidelines first.
The Siteimprove extension for browsers will outline all the key issues that you'll need to focus on to get started.
2.4. Integrates seamlessly with your CMS
Whether it's Drupal or WordPress that you're using, Siteimprove enables you to fix the signaled issues on the spot. Right there, in your CMS, while you're browsing around your website.
2.5. Allows you to automate the accessibility checks
And by automating the bulk of your testing process, you get to streamline all the tasks that it covers, such as:
testing various color combinations
evaluating your PDF pages' accessibility
testing your form fields
2.6. Provides specific recommendations
Why use Siteimprove?
Because it doesn't stop at pointing out the accessibility issues on your website: it also gives you clear explanations on how to address them.
2.7. Enables you to monitor your progress in improving your website's accessibility
industry benchmarks
historical graphs
automated reports
customizable dashboards
All these Siteimprove features enable you to measure the progress that your team makes for turning your website WCAG 2.1 compliant.
2.8. Allows you to set up a hierarchy for the accessibility issues identified
In short, the Siteimprove web accessibility checker enables you to categorize and to prioritize tasks by:
severity
conformance level
And to assign them by job role (webmaster, editor, developer...) or responsibilities.
3. How to Use Siteimprove Accessibility Checker?
Say you want to try the Siteimprove Google Chrome Extension. Here's how you use it:
install the Siteimprove Accessibility Checker Chrome extension from the Chrome Webshop from your Chrome browser
add the extension to your browser: "Add to Chrome"
look for the newly added icon in your browser window
enter your target web page's URL in your browser
click the Siteimprove Accessibility Checker icon and let it perform its audit
take a look at the results displayed on the right side of the page
Note: Siteimprove Accessibility Checker uses the same checking engine as the Siteimprove Accessibility platform.
4. Siteimprove vs Axe Accessibility Tool
Why use Siteimprove over Axe? How are they different anyway?
Let's compare these 2 popular accessibility testing tools:
4.1. Axe browser extension
It generates detailed results, but you might find its slideshow-style controls a bit challenging
4.2. Siteimprove Accessibility Checker
it stands out as an accessibility testing tool that allows you to filter tasks by "responsibility" (or job role)
also, it displays the issues that it detects following the same structure of the WCAG guidelines
it presents color-codes issues by conformance level (A, AA, AAA)
it points out to the specific WCAG criteria that those issues relate to
5. Monsido vs Siteimprove Accessibility Checker
And why would you choose Siteimprove over Monsido?
Here's what sets them apart:
Monsido provides comprehensive crawls weekly, whereas with Siteimprove you get automated crawls every 5 days
Monsido could discourage you with its less-friendly UI, whereas Siteimprove has a more intuitive dashboard
6. The Drupal 8 Siteimprove Module: What Does It Do?
"The seamless integration between Siteimprove and Drupal streamlines workflow efficiencies for your web team. With the module, your team can fix errors and optimize content directly within the editing environment." (source: Siteimprove.com)
In short, the module (or "Siteimprove plugin", if you wish):
scans your website for accessibility issues (broken links and misspellings, A, AA, AAA conformance level accessibility issues, readability levels, etc.)
that you can then turn into manageable tasks and assign to your team members
who can tackle them right in the editing environment that they're using
Tip: you can even use the Drupal 8 Siteimprove module to see what would be the impact if you unpublished a "problem" page before you apply this measure.
The END!
Have I managed to answer your "Why use Siteimprove?" question?
Are you already using it as your website accessibility checker? If not, what other tool are you using and why have you chosen precisely that one?
Let me know in the comments below.
Image by Sitanshu Kumar from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Mar 12'2020