WordPress accessibility guide

A practical WordPress accessibility checklist

Use this alongside a scan, not instead of one. Check a representative page and an important journey. Print this page with your browser for a paper copy.

Checkboxes stay only in this open page. They are not saved or uploaded. Printing preserves your current marks.

Start with a real task
Pick a page and a journey: read an article, find a product, submit an enquiry. Note the page URL and the date of your review.

Use the keyboard
Put the mouse aside. Use Tab and Shift+Tab to move through links, controls and menus. Check that focus stays visible and that you can enter and leave each control.

Try the skip link
At the start of the page, look for a keyboard-accessible way to reach main content without repeating the full navigation.

Read the headings
Check whether headings describe sections and form a useful structure. Visual size alone does not make text a heading.

Review image purpose
Check meaningful images have useful text alternatives. Decorative images should not add noise. Do not replace a useful description with a filename.

Read links and controls
Check that link and button names make sense in context. Confirm icons have meaningful names and that a placeholder is not the only form label.

Check forms and errors
Check visible labels, instructions and required fields. Submit invalid test data on a safe test form and confirm the error identifies what to fix. Do not place a real order just to test.

Enlarge the page
Zoom in and enlarge text. Check reading order, clipped text, controls and content that overlaps. Repeat on a narrow screen.

Check contrast in the rendered page
Review actual text and backgrounds, including hover and focus states. The plugin checks only limited explicit colour pairs, not every rendered colour.

Review language and direction
Confirm the page language and the reading order of mixed RTL/LTR text, numbers and punctuation. Script-based hints need a human check.

Check media alternatives
For media that conveys information, review captions, transcripts and descriptions of meaningful visual content.

Record and retest
Write the issue, affected URL, steps and result. Recheck after the fix and after theme or plugin changes. A clean automated result does not close the manual review.

A first review is a starting point, not a compliance certificate. Automated checks and short checklists can miss barriers. Test real journeys and include people who use assistive technology.

Further reading: W3C WAI Easy Checks (draft) and WAI preliminary review guidance.

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Open the printable checklist · Choose a checking workflow