Why Weblish trains the next generation with Greyd
When Manuela van Prooijen founded Weblish in 2012, her mission was simple: empower people with practical digital skills. But as the digital landscape evolved, so did her focus. Today, Manuela leads both Weblish and the DA11Y Program, where she trains virtual assistants and small business owners in building accessible websites. Her shift to Greyd.Suite was driven not by hype, but by hands-on testing, responsiveness from the team, and a commitment to quality that matched her own.
A career built on listening and adapting
Manuela’s journey into tech began in the mid-90s, when she transitioned from a secretarial role into system administration, and eventually, web development. After nearly a decade working with Joomla, she discovered WordPress in 2012 and never looked back. What drew her in wasn’t just the tooling, but the welcoming and collaborative WordPress community.
Her teaching career started soon after. With Weblish, she filled a crucial gap in the Dutch market, helping office professionals and freelancers transition into digital work. Over the years, she developed multiple programs including Web Assistant, WordPress Web Bouwbedrijf, and more recently, the DA11Y Digital Accessibility Support Program.
Q: What sparked your shift towards accessibility?
It started with inspiration from people like Rian Rietveld, but the real turning point came after a call with Anne-Mieke Bovelett. That conversation lit a fire. Accessibility wasn’t an afterthought anymore. It became the foundation.
Q: What makes Greyd.Suite stand out for your students?
It’s clean, structured, and based on core WordPress principles. No unnecessary layers. That’s crucial when teaching accessibility from the ground up. My students learn to do things the right way from day one.
How Greyd.Suite supports real-world learning
Manuela’s students come from different backgrounds. Some are former administrative professionals, others are VAs or freelancers. Many have never touched WordPress before. For this audience, ease of use is essential, but so is quality, performance, and future-readiness.
My students don’t just want a good-looking site. They need something sustainable, fast, and accessible. That’s why we chose Greyd.
Unlike many other tools, Greyd.Suite offered Weblish a scalable, standards-based system built on native WordPress functionality. Features like semantic query loops, dynamic layouts, and flexible templating allow Manuela’s students to learn the right way from day one, without relying on heavy page builders or workarounds.
Q: What was your experience working with the Greyd team?
I can think of so many examples. Here’s a fairly recent one. We submitted a ticket about filtering regular posts and custom post types by date. Not only did they listen, they implemented the feature in their Conditional Content Block in just a few weeks. That level of collaboration is rare.
A partner, not just a product
Manuela emphasized that Greyd’s biggest strength isn’t just in the features. It’s the team.
“They care. We’re not a giant agency, but our feedback was taken seriously. That speaks volumes.”
Her students are now using Greyd.Suite in real client projects, and many are contributing insights back to the product team. The result is a feedback loop where learning and development go hand in hand.
The DA11Y program: accessibility in action
The DA11Y program (Digital Accessibility Support) isn’t theoretical. It trains people to support real-world accessibility work. Adding alt text, checking contrast, writing accessible copy, and structuring pages semantically. It doesn’t aim to produce auditors or developers, but practical accessibility allies for businesses.
Q:Who is the DA11Y program for?
It’s for the people who make things happen behind the scenes. Virtual assistants, content managers, and small business owners. People who want to make a difference, even if they don’t write code.
There’s a huge demand for people who understand accessibility but don’t code. Greyd enables that. My students can make meaningful contributions without needing advanced technical skills.
Looking ahead
Whether speaking at meetups or mentoring students, Manuela sees accessibility as a growing field, and Greyd.Suite as a catalyst for change.
We don’t just teach what’s possible. We teach what’s responsible. Greyd lets us do that without compromise.
From technical support to performance, from community to continuous improvement, Greyd.Suite has become a core part of how Weblish and the DA11Y progam help shape a more accessible digital future.
And it’s just getting started.
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