Accessibility Statement

This statement addresses three main areas of accessibility for Joomla: Sites produced using Joomla (front end and back end), and the Joomla.org site.

Sites produced using Joomla

Front end (website)

We will provide a solution capable of delivering accessible websites that comply with WCAG 1.0 Priority 2 and Section 508 requirements by release 1.5 of Joomla. 

The Development Team focuses on front-end accessibility for the 1.x series of releases of Joomla.

Please note that while Joomla will provide the ability to deliver WCAG compliant sites, many requirements depend on the template designers or content managers. As such, Joomla sites may well not comply with WCAG, for reasons out of the control of the Core Development Team.  In other words, we'll give you the tools to comply, the rest is up to you!

Back end (admin)

While we will incorporate as many accessibility "features" in the back-end as possible, the technical changes required to reach WCAG compliance at this point would involve an extensive re-write of the code.  It would be counter-productive to do this now, as a such a re-write is planned for the 2.x series.

The back-end or administration area of a Joomla driven site is not a public area.  Unless your administrators have accessibility requirements themselves, the reduced compliance on the back-end will not impact your organisation/site accessibility levels.

Joomla.org Web site

Current situation

While we are committed to accessibility, we are aware, and regret, that our website does not comply with many WCAG/508 requirements, nor does it currently validate with XHTML 1.0 Transitional.  The site is Joomla based, and as such, will be compliant when Joomla meets requirements.

Future plans

We are dedicated to complying with current web standards (XHTML, CSS, WCAG/508) and best practices.  This will become possible as the Joomla engine addresses known issues.

Existing content created before the implementation of Joomla 1.6 may not be properly marked up.  Efforts may be made to revise and edit that content, depending on time constraints.

New content will be properly marked up.

Third party applications

In some situations, Joomla will require the use of 3rd party applications to assist with the functions of the website. Features such as the Forum, or the Forge were not programmed by the Joomla development team. While we will aim to improve accessibility to those parts of our website, compliance remains outside of our control.

Concerns or Suggestions?

If you have concerns, issues or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to share them with our Development or Sites and Infrastructure Working Groups on the Joomla! forum.