Our Commitment to Accessibility
Access to the internet is an essential function of modern life. It’s integral to how we talk to friends and family, manage our healthcare, sign our kids up for little leagues, and participate in our communities.
But access to the internet isn’t only about having an ISP that provides a physical connection to the online space. It’s just as much about making that online space accessible for everyone by accommodating individual needs. There’s just as much diversity in those of us that go online as there is in the online world itself, and that world should be open to all of us.
That means all of us working towards making, and keeping, the internet as accessible and inclusive as possible for everyone, both technically and empathetically.
Accessibility is not a feature set. It’s far more than code. It’s about quality of life and access to an indispensable aspect of modern life for people all around the globe.
What you can expect from Ninja Forms right now.
We will always be looking for ways to improve, and there will always be room for improvement. But here’s where we stand now.
Front-end form display
This is where Ninja Forms has its largest surface area exposure: on a webpage, available for your end users to interact with and submit.
We have developed our own set of internal standards, based on WCAG2 standards, and audited by external accessibility professionals. We have done extensive work to make sure our forms meet these standards when displayed on a page. We have testing in place to make sure every update to Ninja Forms meets these standards to prevent regression.
If you’re part of an organization with an obligation to meet WCAG2 standards, Ninja Forms should meet and exceed your needs when coupled with a theme that is also compliant. If you just care about making sure your forms are easily accessible to everyone, we’re right there with you.
All that said, we’re not ever “done” here. We will always be looking for ways to both raise our standards and improve on their execution. If you see something you’d like us to improve on or fix, please let us know.
WordPress admin and form builder
These have been built to WordPress standards, but as anyone working inside WordPress and aware of accessibility concerns knows, this leaves a lot of room for improvement. We’re currently scoping out work for an improved admin and form builder experience. It won’t look a lot different as we execute, but accessibility is an inseparable part of our efforts to modernize the plugin’s infrastructure and presentation.
Our website
Ya, we know. It’s a bit of a mess right now, to put it kindly. It’s the product of more than a decade of small business learning-as-we-go and “cowboy code” solutions. It’s past time to start fresh.
We are currently full steam ahead on a complete overhaul of our site, beginning with a new theme tailored to accessible infrastructure and design. Like we have done for front end form display, we are developing our own internal accessibility standards based on WCAG2 that will be externally audited by accessibility professionals. These will be used to guide site design from as broadly as site infrastructure decisions to as granular a level as elements on an individual page.
Our mentality
Accessibility is not a goal to be set, reached, and put in the books. It’s an ongoing process of learning and evolving to be better. We’re not where we want to be and we never will be, but that’s working as intended so long as we’re always genuinely striving to be better.