WordPress.org

Bio

I’m a WordPress plug-in developer and a web accessibility consultant. I’m part of the Make WordPress Accessible team, the team dedicated to improving accessibility in the WordPress ecosystem.

I’m self-employed, but since fall 2022 I’ve had part-time sponsorship from GoDaddy to contribute to WordPress. In March 2025, I also welcomed sponsorship from Kinsta to expand my ability to contribute.

WordPress Origin Story

I’ve been self-employed building web sites & providing consulting services since 2004, and started using WordPress in 2006, converting my own blog from BlogSpot to WordPress. In 2008 I started building plugins, then started contributing to core regularly in 2012. I’m now a core committer, and have been in the credits for every version of WordPress since 3.8 (except for 4.5.)

Contributions Sponsored

GoDaddy, Kinsta, and Jonathan Desrosiers sponsor Joe Dolson to contribute 14 hours per week to the following teams: Accessibility and Core.

Member Since: October 28th, 2008
Location: Saint Paul, MN
Website: joedolson.com
GitHub: joedolson
Job Title: Owner
Employer: Accessible Web Design
Find me on:

Contribution History

Accessibility Contributor
Accessibility Team
bbPress Contributor
Core AI Contributor
Core Contributor
Core Team
Meta Contributor
Plugin Developer
Theme Developer
Themes Team
Translation Contributor
WordCamp Speaker
WordPress.tv Contributor

Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Administration: Set customizer theme feature filter to compact.
4 hours ago
Closed ticket #64755 on Core Trac:
Admin reskin: Customizer theme filter button is oversized
4 hours ago
Committed [61835] to Core SVN:
Administration: Set customizer theme feature filter to compact. Use ...
4 hours ago
Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Administration: Update `event-none` border in dashboard widget.
4 hours ago
Closed ticket #64756 on Core Trac:
WordPress Events widget border still uses hardcoded old color scheme
4 hours ago
Committed [61834] to Core SVN:
Administration: Update `event-none` border in dashboard widget. ...
4 hours ago
Committed [3475023] to Plugins SVN:
Add 3.7.6, remove 3.7.4, change stable. ...
6 hours ago
Posted a reply to Category labels have disappeared, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
I figured it out; it's specific to categories that don't have icons assigned. Issuing an…
7 hours ago
Posted a reply to Category labels have disappeared, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
I have a report on this from @cwolff, but can't currently reproduce it myself. Your…
7 hours ago
Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Themes: Remove background on active theme actions.
9 hours ago
Closed ticket #64720 on Core Trac:
Empty gray theme-actions div on Appearance > Themes for classic themes ...
9 hours ago
Committed [61831] to Core SVN:
Themes: Remove background on active theme actions. The background ...
9 hours ago
Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Quick/Bulk Edit: Use compact sizing on inputs after admin reskin.
10 hours ago
Closed ticket #64685 on Core Trac:
Bulk Edit dropdown height increased compared to previous version
10 hours ago
Committed [61827] to Core SVN:
Quick/Bulk Edit: Use compact sizing on inputs after admin reskin. ...
10 hours ago
Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Permalinks: Improve display for permalinks slug inputs.
10 hours ago
Closed ticket #58722 on Core Trac:
Fix RTL display in Optional grouping on Permalinks Settings page
10 hours ago
Committed [61826] to Core SVN:
Permalinks: Improve display for permalinks slug inputs. Set the ...
10 hours ago
Closed pull request #8273 on WordPress/wordpress-develop:
Add error message under input field.
1 day ago
Closed pull request #8272 on WordPress/wordpress-develop:
Twenty Twenty: Adds aria-controls and aria-expanded attributes to primary menu
1 day ago
Closed pull request #10237 on WordPress/wordpress-develop:
Enhance: Improved Menu Items Search
1 day ago
Closed pull request #10978 on WordPress/wordpress-develop:
Fix #64659: Bulk Actions: Differentiate notice when no bulk action is selected.
1 day ago
Posted a reply to Navigation buttons replace calendar with “null”, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
It looks like something is blocking access to the target URL to fetch the page.…
1 day ago
Committed [3474075] to Plugins SVN:
Add 3.7.5, remove 3.7.3, change stable. ...
1 day ago
Submitted pull request #11135 to WordPress/wordpress-develop:
Get embedded alt text from images
1 day ago
Submitted pull request #11132 to WordPress/wordpress-develop:
Set theme feature filter toggle to compact
1 day ago
Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Posts, Post Types: Restore post type icons in At a...
2 days ago
Closed ticket #43084 on Core Trac:
dashboard confuses published posts count with all posts
2 days ago
Committed [61799] to Core SVN:
Posts, Post Types: Restore post type icons in At a Glance. Following ...
2 days ago
Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Admin: Reskin - Welcome Panel viewport fixes.
2 days ago
Closed ticket #64741 on Core Trac:
Change welcome panel background color to light gray
2 days ago
Committed [61798] to Core SVN:
Admin: Reskin - Welcome Panel viewport fixes. Ensure that the black ...
2 days ago
Submitted pull request #11121 to WordPress/wordpress-develop:
Modify active theme colors to fix empty div background
2 days ago
Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Admin: Reskin - fix empty dashboard widget alignment.
2 days ago
Closed ticket #64743 on Core Trac:
[Admin reskin] Dashboard widget empty container misaligned after reskin
2 days ago
Committed [61785] to Core SVN:
Admin: Reskin - fix empty dashboard widget alignment. Fix alignment ...
2 days ago
Closed pull request #10998 on WordPress/wordpress-develop:
Adjust dimensions for icons in Bulk Edit, Quick Edit, dashboard welcome widget,...
2 days ago
Submitted pull request #11117 to WordPress/wordpress-develop:
Set inline edit input fields to use compact size
2 days ago
Pushed 2 commits to WordPress/WordPress:
Admin: Reskin - update dismiss icons sizing.
2 days ago
Closed ticket #64684 on Core Trac:
Bulk Edit selected items remove icon is oversized and misaligned
2 days ago
Committed [61784] to Core SVN:
Admin: Reskin - update dismiss icons sizing. Update the sizing of ...
2 days ago
Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Admin: Reskin - update active plugin colors.
3 days ago
Closed ticket #64745 on Core Trac:
[Admin Reskin] Active plugin highlighting still uses old color scheme
3 days ago
Committed [61780] to Core SVN:
Admin: Reskin - update active plugin colors. Update the background ...
3 days ago
Pushed 1 commit to WordPress/WordPress:
Admin: Update focus state on color picker.
3 days ago
Closed ticket #64754 on Core Trac:
[Admin Reskin] : Color Picker and Color Palette Focus Still Using Old Color
3 days ago
Committed [61779] to Core SVN:
Admin: Update focus state on color picker. Fix the focus color on the ...
3 days ago
Posted a reply to enlarge the Icons () for previous and next event, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
I see what you're referring to, now - but those icons are coming from your…
4 days ago
Posted a reply to Navigation buttons replace calendar with “null”, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
Can you share a URL that I can look at?
4 days ago
Posted a reply to High contrast mode – image background, on the site WordPress.org Forums:
If I didn't set a background color at all, then it would end up black,…
4 days ago