I have seen lots of visually impaired people hunting across the internet for any information about WordPress and its accessibility for screen reader users. Also, the numerous practical questions involved about its performance in carrying out an assortment of tasks under a WordPress blog without a satisfactory answer.
Because of this, I have decided to start up a new serie of podcast named WordPress for Blind.
I will take on the task to make a blog from scratch.
To be more precise, I will buy a domain name, put on hosting, install WordPress, customise it, and then carry out the heavy work, publishing content.
Before starting I would like to clarify: I am talking about self hosted WordPress, not about a free blog under wordpress.com domain.
They may look similar but the differences could cause confusion for a newby blogger.
First, a subdomain blog on wordpress.com it is a good choice to start with, but this will have some limitations.
Will be slow, later when you start to populate your blog with that very much wanted content.
One solution would be at this moment is to upgrade wordpress.com to pro which will bring you in the same situation with a self hosted WordPress.
So, why not start pro straight forward?
Second, all what you can have under a wordpress.com hosting, including the premium one, you can bring into your self hosted WordPress site through JetPack plugin. We will talk about this later.
For a trial, or a play only to see what you can do or not with WordPress, will be great to start for free with the subdomain on wordpress.com , but if your intention is to be serious about blogging you need a domain name and a self hosted WordPress for sure.
Good, we are dealing here with self hosted WordPress, therefore I will get first step, to talk about hosting and web domains.
A hosting account gives you a certun amount of space on a server, somewhere into a data centre.
We talk about shared hosting, when multiple customers are sharing the same server being isolated in such way, to not exceed the space limit on the hard disk, or the bandwith connection of the server.
Dedicated servers are only for one entity, person or business, where they have an entire server discretionary.
Of course, such a luxury it is not just afordable for anyone.
VPS stands from virtual private server which is in one way it is the same like a dedicated server with the exception of having your data stored into a virtual server. This one have a guaranteed amount of space memory ram and speed in terms of connection.
Some of the data may be at distance, or accessed in various ways, but it is not a machine what you can see it in one place, for example. But the dedicated server it is a phizical machine which is all yours as long you pay the rent.
For start a shared hosting it is all we need.
I have an account with a company in UK, having the data centre in Manchester. All good, excelent technical support by e-mail 24/7 and by phone during the office hours. For just 36 gBP per year it is good value and tested over and over in various situations.
Right, not asking to go for the cheapest on the market, but the crucial thing is to be sure the support it is available 24/7. Nobody is happy to have the blog shut down over night or week-end, and no help available from the hosting provider till Monday or bank holiday ends.
I will recommend to buy the domain and hosting from same provider, simply because you avoid setting up domain name servers which are essential for a website to work.
A name server tell to the browser where to go when somebody tipe your website name or click on it.
When you buy the domain and hosting from same provider they will set up this for you. Anyway, if you have different providers you need to be sure the domain name server it is exactly as your host mentioned to you. Other way your website will be not available on the internet, weather you purchased it.
Listening the audio podcast you have the chance to hear exactly what I have done since buying a new domain called blindblogger.uk , then adding it to my hosting, then creating an e-mail address under that domain, then setting up WordPress installation through softaculous, a software offered by my hosting provider, using a simple wizzard.
When the wizzard finish the WordPress site is installed and ready to be customised and ready for content.
All the stepts mentioned above are done into my CPanel , which is the area where I can manage all sorts of options and details of my hosting, domains, e-mail accounts, etc.
The admin area for my new installed website it is different, so do not make confusion between this two panels.
Your new website admin area will be at your domain name address followed by forward slash wp-admin and your CPanel will be at the main domain for your hosting account, followed by forward slash cpanel.
For example, I have added blindblogger.uk at my hosting account, but the main domain for my hosting is accessiblecomputer.co.uk. So, my cpanel is accessiblecomputer.co.uk/cpanel.
Hope to be clear enough, other way just ask for more details.
Now I have a brand new blog installed at www.blindblogger.uk where I will move slowly the content related to WordPress for Blind.
Use comments for questions and subscribe if you wish to learn more about WordPress for screen reader users.
It is following a new lesson where I will adjust WordPress admin interface for screen reader users, also, I will replace the sample page and article with an authentic one.
Keep an eye on Accessible Computer podcast, and let me know in comments if yu have a blog, or wish to build one.
In case of having one, what is about? Let me know what struggle you have encountered.
I have seen lots of visually impaired people hunting across the internet for any information about WordPress and its accessibility for screen reader users. Also, the numerous practical questions involved about its performance in carrying out an assortment of tasks under a WordPress blog without a satisfactory answer.
Because of this, I have decided to start up a new serie of podcast named WordPress for Blind.
I will take on the task to make a blog from scratch.
To be more precise, I will buy a domain name, put on hosting, install WordPress, customise it, and then carry out the heavy work, publishing content.
Before starting I would like to clarify: I am talking about self hosted WordPress, not about a free blog under wordpress.com domain.
They may look similar but the differences could cause confusion for a newby blogger.
First, a subdomain blog on wordpress.com it is a good choice to start with, but this will have some limitations.
Will be slow, later when you start to populate your blog with that very much wanted content.
One solution would be at this moment is to upgrade wordpress.com to pro which will bring you in the same situation with a self hosted WordPress.
So, why not start pro straight forward?
Second, all what you can have under a wordpress.com hosting, including the premium one, you can bring into your self hosted WordPress site through JetPack plugin. We will talk about this later.
For a trial, or a play only to see what you can do or not with WordPress, will be great to start for free with the subdomain on wordpress.com , but if your intention is to be serious about blogging you need a domain name and a self hosted WordPress for sure.
Good, we are dealing here with self hosted WordPress, therefore I will get first step, to talk about hosting and web domains.
A hosting account gives you a certun amount of space on a server, somewhere into a data centre.
We talk about shared hosting, when multiple customers are sharing the same server being isolated in such way, to not exceed the space limit on the hard disk, or the bandwith connection of the server.
Dedicated servers are only for one entity, person or business, where they have an entire server discretionary.
Of course, such a luxury it is not just afordable for anyone.
VPS stands from virtual private server which is in one way it is the same like a dedicated server with the exception of having your data stored into a virtual server. This one have a guaranteed amount of space memory ram and speed in terms of connection.
Some of the data may be at distance, or accessed in various ways, but it is not a machine what you can see it in one place, for example. But the dedicated server it is a phizical machine which is all yours as long you pay the rent.
For start a shared hosting it is all we need.
I have an account with a company in UK, having the data centre in Manchester. All good, excelent technical support by e-mail 24/7 and by phone during the office hours. For just 36 gBP per year it is good value and tested over and over in various situations.
Right, not asking to go for the cheapest on the market, but the crucial thing is to be sure the support it is available 24/7. Nobody is happy to have the blog shut down over night or week-end, and no help available from the hosting provider till Monday or bank holiday ends.
I will recommend to buy the domain and hosting from same provider, simply because you avoid setting up domain name servers which are essential for a website to work.
A name server tell to the browser where to go when somebody tipe your website name or click on it.
When you buy the domain and hosting from same provider they will set up this for you. Anyway, if you have different providers you need to be sure the domain name server it is exactly as your host mentioned to you. Other way your website will be not available on the internet, weather you purchased it.
Listening the audio podcast you have the chance to hear exactly what I have done since buying a new domain called blindblogger.uk , then adding it to my hosting, then creating an e-mail address under that domain, then setting up WordPress installation through softaculous, a software offered by my hosting provider, using a simple wizzard.
When the wizzard finish the WordPress site is installed and ready to be customised and ready for content.
All the stepts mentioned above are done into my CPanel , which is the area where I can manage all sorts of options and details of my hosting, domains, e-mail accounts, etc.
The admin area for my new installed website it is different, so do not make confusion between this two panels.
Your new website admin area will be at your domain name address followed by forward slash wp-admin and your CPanel will be at the main domain for your hosting account, followed by forward slash cpanel.
For example, I have added blindblogger.uk at my hosting account, but the main domain for my hosting is accessiblecomputer.co.uk. So, my cpanel is accessiblecomputer.co.uk/cpanel.
Hope to be clear enough, other way just ask for more details.
Now I have a brand new blog installed at www.blindblogger.uk where I will move slowly the content related to WordPress for Blind.
Use comments for questions and subscribe if you wish to learn more about WordPress for screen reader users.
It is following a new lesson where I will adjust WordPress admin interface for screen reader users, also, I will replace the sample page and article with an authentic one.
Keep an eye on Accessible Computer podcast, and let me know in comments if yu have a blog, or wish to build one.
In case of having one, what is about? Let me know what struggle you have encountered.
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