Table of contents

Understanding WordPress accessibilityKey principlesStepsTesting your siteMaintaining accessibility over timeAddressing legal complianceFAQsNext stepsAdditional resources

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WordPress Guide → Admin → Accessibility 101

WordPress accessibility 101: a complete guide

Making your WordPress site accessible isn’t just about meeting legal standards—it’s about building a site everyone can use, no matter their ability. That includes users with screen readers, mobility challenges, cognitive impairments, and color blindness.

Let’s walk through how to make your WordPress site more accessible, starting with the platform’s built-in features and ending with best practices, tools, and maintenance tips.

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Understanding WordPress accessibility

WordPress core includes several accessibility features, but a fully accessible site depends on your theme, plugin choices, and content creation habits.

Built-in accessibility features

WordPress supports screen readers, keyboard navigation, semantic HTML, and the use of ARIA landmarks. The block editor (Gutenberg) also helps with accessibility by encouraging consistent structure and offering visual cues like contrast warnings.

You can also assign alternative text to images directly through the media library, and the latest default themes from WordPress.org (like Twenty Twenty-Four) are labeled “accessibility-ready.”

Platform limitations

While WordPress itself meets many WCAG 2.1 AA standards, plugins and themes aren’t always up to the same level. Even accessibility-ready themes can be rendered non-compliant by a poorly configured slider, form, or color palette.

Accessibility is also a shared responsibility—site owners, editors, and developers must all contribute to creating accessible content and interfaces.

Key principles of web accessibility

The four guiding principles of web accessibility, according to WCAG, are:

Perceivable: Information must be presented in ways that users can perceive—such as using alt text for images and providing captions for videos.
Operable: Users should be able to navigate your site using different input methods, such as keyboards or screen readers.
Understandable: Content should be easy to understand, with logical navigation and consistent design patterns.
Robust: Your website must work reliably across different browsers, devices, and assistive technologies.

If your site breaks any of these principles, it can quickly become inaccessible for users with disabilities.

Steps to make your WordPress site accessible

Getting to full compliance takes a few technical choices and a lot of small content decisions. Here’s where to start:

1. Choose an accessibility-ready theme

Search the WordPress Theme Directory for “accessibility-ready” themes. These are reviewed against specific criteria like proper heading structures, skip links, ARIA landmarks, and focus states for keyboard users.

Avoid themes with complex animations, sliders, or color schemes that don’t meet contrast guidelines unless you plan to customize them.

2. Use accessibility-enhancing plugins

Several plugins (free or premium) can help bridge the accessibility gap without bloating your site:

WP Accessibility – Adds skip links, alt text reminders, form label checks, and more.
One Click Accessibility – Adds a user-facing toolbar with options like font resizing, contrast toggles, and underlined links.
Accessibility Checker – Scans pages and posts in the editor for accessibility issues and gives you clear guidance on how to fix them.

These tools are helpful, but they won’t fix everything—you’ll still need to apply best practices manually.

3. Use clear, semantic content structure

Organize your content with heading tags (H1, H2, H3) in a logical order. Every page should have one H1 (the title) and use subheadings consistently to group content.

Avoid using bold text or font size changes to mimic headers, which creates confusion for screen readers and assistive tools.

4. Provide alt text and meaningful links

Every image should have descriptive alternative text, especially if the image conveys information. Avoid stuffing keywords: just describe what the image shows in plain language.

For links, avoid phrases like “click here” or “learn more.” Instead, use anchor text that clearly describes where the link goes.

5. Check color contrast and visual cues

Use an accessibility contrast checker to ensure your text meets minimum contrast ratios (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text). Color shouldn’t be the only way information is conveyed—add underlines or icons where appropriate.

Some themes come with customizable contrast settings, while others may need CSS tweaks to reach compliance.

6. Make sure everything works with a keyboard

Try navigating your site using only the Tab, Enter, and Arrow keys. Can you reach all links, buttons, forms, and navigation menus? If not, you may need to fix focus states or replace non-compliant components.

Elements like sliders, dropdowns, and modals are common problem areas—look for plugins and themes that label themselves as “keyboard accessible.”

7. Offer transcripts and captions for media

Videos should have closed captions and downloadable transcripts. Audio-only content should have a transcript available on the page. This helps users who are deaf or hard of hearing, and it can boost SEO, too.

Testing your site for accessibility

Regular testing helps you stay compliant and usable for everyone. Use a mix of automated and manual methods:

Automated tools: Try WAVE (wave.webaim.org), Axe DevTools (browser extension), and Lighthouse (in Chrome DevTools).
Manual testing: Navigate your site using only a keyboard. Try it with screen readers like NVDA (Windows) or VoiceOver (Mac). Observe focus indicators, button labels, and link context.

Don’t assume automation catches everything. User testing with people who use assistive technology can reveal issues you didn’t anticipate.

Maintaining accessibility over time

Once your site is accessible, you’ll need to keep it that way. This means:

Training your writers and editors to follow accessibility best practices.
Auditing new plugins and themes before adding them.
Checking alt text, headings, and contrast every time you publish content.
Running accessibility scans during major updates.

Accessibility isn’t a one-time fix—it’s a habit. And the more people on your team who understand it, the easier it gets to maintain.

Addressing legal compliance and ADA requirements

Much of the WordPress community aims for ADA compliance, not just usability. In the U.S., ADA Title III has been applied to websites via court decisions, and failing to meet WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines has led to lawsuits.

To minimize your legal risk:

Follow WCAG 2.1 AA as a baseline.
Keep detailed logs of your accessibility improvements.
Include an accessibility statement on your website, outlining what you’ve done and how users can request help or report issues.

Some site owners also choose to work with a legal consultant or third-party accessibility auditor for peace of mind.

WordPress accessibility FAQs

Yes. WordPress core is built with accessibility in mind and includes features like semantic markup, alt text fields, and keyboard navigation support. However, full accessibility depends on your theme, plugins, and content practices.

The four principles of WCAG are:

Perceivable
Operable
Understandable
Robust

Start with an accessibility-ready theme, use plugins like WP Accessibility, add descriptive alt text, ensure keyboard navigation, and test regularly with accessibility tools and users. Aim to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

The most popular free option is WP Accessibility, which adds skip links, title attributes, contrast tools, and more.

Next steps for WordPress accessibility

An accessible WordPress site is a faster, more usable, and more inclusive site. It benefits everyone—especially users with disabilities—and helps you avoid legal headaches.

Start by auditing your current setup. Then, install WP Accessibility, choose an accessibility-ready theme, and follow the content best practices in this guide.

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