WP Tavern #174 – Joe Dolson and Jonathan Desrosiers on WordPress Accessibility: Core Commitment or Canonical Plugin
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Jun 25, 2025 Joe Dolson, a part-time core contributor focused on accessibility, and Jonathan Desrosiers, a full-time contributor from Bluehost, dive into WordPress accessibility. They explore the controversial concept of canonical plugins, weighing the benefits of keeping accessibility features in the core versus moving them to dedicated plugins. The discussion touches on upcoming accessibility legislation, the moral imperative behind inclusive web design, and the potential for AI to enhance user experiences. Their insights highlight the critical balance between compliance and usability in the WordPress ecosystem.
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Understanding Canonical Plugins
- Canonical plugins are community-trusted plugins that act almost like core features but are maintained separately, ensuring reliability and security.
- They may handle features that are too large or complex for core, allowing incremental updates and specialized focus.
Accessibility Complexity in WordPress
- Accessibility in WordPress is complex, spanning mandatory features to optional enhancements that may conflict.
- Moving accessibility features to canonical plugins introduces challenges due to the broad and nuanced nature of accessibility needs.
Canonical Plugins Increase Flexibility
- Canonical plugins enable flexible release cadences independent of core's fixed schedule.
- This allows frequent updates and rapid issue fixes, providing agile feature improvements and testing.