Fresh Growth and New Launches This Spring
Spring is in full swing, and so are we. From major product updates to fresh resources and upcoming events, this month is all about growth—both in the platform and in the accessibility community.
We’re especially excited to share the official launch of WCAG in Plain English, a project years in the making that’s now part of AAArdvark. Whether you’re tuning into our latest podcast, checking out the new blog, or joining us live at AccessU, we hope you’ll find something in here to inspire your next steps toward better digital accessibility.
WCAG in Plain English: Now Live!
Our biggest update this month is that WCAG in Plain English is now live and fully integrated into AAArdvark!
This is a collection of WCAG articles translated into plain language to help teams and clients who aren’t familiar with accessibility better understand the success criteria and how to implement them. It’s designed to make audits, remediation, and accessibility projects easier to navigate.
The AAArdvark team spent three years and countless hours creating this free resource for the community. We hope this can be a big step toward helping more website owners and non-technical folks appreciate digital accessibility work and its mission.
We hope you find it helpful! Feel free to bookmark it and use it in your next project!
Curious What The Authors Have To Say About WCAG in Plain English?
Read our introduction blog post, which shares the whole story and breakdown: Introducing WCAG in Plain English.
Or, hear straight from the folks who created the new resource on the AAArdvark Accessibility Podcast! Watch on our YouTube channel:
Alternatively, listen on your favorite platform:
New Features and Improvements in AAArvark
Over the last few weeks, we’ve introduced a variety of fixes and improvements, including:
- Improvements
- Site scanning queues, making the scanning process smoother for everyone
- Creating manual issues no longer requires the extra step of closing a pop-up
- Adding pages by sitemap now defaults to showing you pages that you haven’t added to AAArdvark
- Updated color contrast for elements across the application
- Marking all Instances as Pending Review now also updates the parent Issue
- Newly Added
- Ability to resize the code snippet window in the Issue Instance pages
- Reintroduced the Seen On section for Issue Instances to help you see which page the instance is found on
- An Instance Details section to give you more details on how to fix each instance
- Needs Manual Review status when working with Manual Issues
- Support for Emails and In-App Notifications when Manual Issues are Ready to Review
- Redesigned the billing page interface to quickly show you at a glance how many remaining sites and pages your plan allows
- Review the pricing plans without having to enter credit card information
- Emails for when you’re mentioned in a comment now include information on the Site and Workspace where the comment was left
The EAA is saying, “If you sell it or offer it in the EU, it needs to be usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.”
What Agencies and Freelancers Need to Know About EAA
The European Accessibility Act is coming fast, and it doesn’t just apply to governments or massive companies. If you build websites or digital products in Europe, this new law probably affects you too.
Our latest blog post breaks down what the law covers, who needs to comply, and how to prepare before the June 2025 deadline.
Mark Your Calendars for Accessibility Events Coming Soon
AccessU: Featuring Founder’s POSH Workshop
Natalie MacLees is headed to AccessU 2025 to lead a hands-on workshop: POSH Foundations: Building Accessibility with Semantic HTML
If you’ve ever wondered how to make your HTML really work for accessibility, this session’s for you. You’ll learn how to write clean, semantic code that supports screen readers, keyboard navigation, and more—no ARIA overload required.
- Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM
- Location: St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, or join virtually
Tickets are still available for both in-person and virtual attendance, so there’s still time to grab your spot.
Upcoming Accessibility Testing Livestream
We’re keeping the momentum going with our biweekly live streams. The next one’s on May 7th, so save the date!
We’ll be covering WCAG Easy Checks again to discuss simple steps for making a web page more accessible.
Check Out April’s Livestreams
- Bookmarklets for Better Accessibility Testing
Join founder Natalie MacLees for a hands-on walkthrough of accessibility bookmarklets – simple, powerful tools you can run right in your browser to test for common accessibility issues. - Accessibility Testing in Action: Using NVDA ScreenReader
Join our founder, Natalie MacLees, for a live demo of NVDA, a free and open-source screen reader for Windows.
Plant The Seeds to Let Digital Accessibility Bloom
Thanks for being part of the AAArdvark community—we’re excited to keep growing with you. As everything comes to life this spring, it’s the perfect time to invest in building more accessible, inclusive digital spaces. Here’s to fresh ideas, steady progress, and a season full of impact.
Stay connected and follow AAArdvark on LinkedIn for the latest updates.
