WordPress Accessibility: Checklist and Guidelines

When deciding on which platform to use for your website, there is a wide variety of pre-made ones. The main benefit of those is that they make it possible for website owners to create their web page very easily and in a short period of time.

The world's most successful and most used such platform is WordPress. But how accessible is it? We need to keep in mind that websites need to be accessible in order to comply with different laws and guidelines all over the world.

In our latest blog post we are going to outline the different ways to make your WordPress accessible for people with disabilities. We are also going to give you a comprehensive checklist to work by when designing your web page.

What Is WordPress?

WordPress was initially made for bloggers – people who wanted to post content online but didn’t have the money to hire a developer for their website or they didn’t have the knowledge to develop the page themselves.

This web content management system outgrew its initial purpose and now is the leading platform used by developers to create websites. It allows creative freedom while giving a good starting structure to your website's design, so it's not a surprise that people use it so much.

The open-source platform also offers its users pre-made design themes of websites that can be used without almost any developers’ skills from users all over the world. So, in this regard WordPress stayed true to its initial purpose – making sure everyday people can design and manage their own web page or blog.

Based on data from the company, as of November 2024 the staggering 43,6% of all websites in the world use WordPress as their content management system. Since its release in 2003, WordPress has become the leading company in content management online

How Accessible Is WordPress Already?

WordPress is committed to making all of its products as accessible as possible. The company has made significant changes through the years, allowing people with disabilities to use all of its tools as freely as possible.

In the huge portfolio of pre-made web designs, WordPress offers designs that are fully accessible and compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) by the World-Wide Consortium. The company strives to achieve Level AA compliance in all of its tools and designs, which is very convenient for website owners.

Level AA compliance of WCAG is the bar for almost all accessibility laws in the world. This level is in the core of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), the EU disabilities law composed by the EU Commission and many other laws.

WordPress is also determined to follow all changes in accessibility guidelines, so it has a special accessibility team that provides expertise across the project.

Source: Unsplash

Accessible Websites in WordPress

WordPress is striving to make all of its products as accessible as possible. They have implemented their own accessibility standards for coding and also provide free tools to all users to help them implement best practices in accessibility.

Here, we are going to give our own accessibility checklist and guidelines if you want to make accessible WordPress websites. We are going to focus on the main aspects of accessible websites in WordPress.

Checklist and Guidelines

On its website WordPress gives a very good guide with best practices in accessibility and how to implement different strategies in your website.

Here are some of the main aspects:

• Navigation and Headings: Navigation accessibility is crucial for people who use assistive technologies. It’s important to use headings in the proper and logical way to allow assistive tech navigate your page. Don’t skip levels and never use headings for visual effects only. Headings serve a purpose, don’t change that.
• Links: Always use meaningful text to describe what the link is about. Use a combination of design elements to highlight the links, don’t rely on underlining only.
• Images: Description of images is crucial for non-visual readers, so provide short and meaningful explanations for your users.
• Colors: Always test your design palette with a color blindness simulator. Some colors and hues can make an element virtually invisible to some users.
• Forms: Always label the different elements in your forms with the proper text. This makes your page scannable by assistive technologies and it also gives additional information to users with learning disabilities.
• Tables: Avoid using these only for design and layout purposes.
• Multimedia: Always make sure that you give alternatives to the different types of media. Images should have alt texts, audio and video need transcriptions and captions. Provide video captions also – those are very convenient also for users without disabilities who can watch a video without sound.
• Audio and Video: Avoid autoplay.
• Controls: Provide users with the option to turn on and off different multimedia and elements on your website. They should be able to pause movement or scrolling of the page, stop video or audio and restart it.
• Keyboard Navigation: Make sure that your website is navigable by keyboard. This is extremely important to people, who use assistive tech.

The guidelines go on and you can find the full list at WordPress. But the most important thing that the company states is that you need to follow the WCAG core standards in order to achieve accessibility at a high level.

You should always keep in mind that accessibility standards are evolving constantly. You need to make sure that your website is up to date with the latest ones.

Benefits of Making Your WordPress Website Accessible

The benefits of making any website accessible are huge.

First, your website will comply with every current law on accessibility. This way you will avoid lawsuits and fines in the future.

Second, making your website accessible can drive a huge portion of users to it. Think for a second – if your business is being used by people with disabilities, it is almost intuitive to provide the best online experience for them. 

This means that people will prefer your website in comparison to those of your competitors in the field. This in turn leads to more revenue.

Third and most important, making the online world accessible for people with disabilities is our moral obligation as a society. By designing your website as accessible as possible, you can impact people's lives in a very positive way and drive positive change forward.

Source: Unsplash

Does My Content Need to Be Accessible?

In trying to decipher whether your content needs to be accessible, it's crucial to make sure if there are any accessibility laws in your area of business.

Most current laws abide by the core WCAG guidelines. They require a minimum of Level AA compliance with W3C standards in order to achieve accessibility.

If your website is not accessible and there is a law about that in your area of operations, you might end up in an accessibility lawsuit. Those can be very expensive, but most of all – they result in a very bad image for your company and website.

How to Test Your Website?

The list of tools that can help you with achieving accessibility is virtually endless. Even WordPress offers a built-in plug-in that checks your website for accessibility issues.

The first step should be talking with an expert on what level of accessibility you want to achieve. Here at QualiBooth we have a team of dedicated experts that can audit your webpage and give you key insights on what to do first in your journey towards a more inclusive online world.

We advise you to also use our dev tools and Accessibility Scanner in order to make sure that every step your accessibility plan is achieved.

Conclusion

WordPress is the world's leading content management system. It is used by a very wide variety of businesses. The company strives to achieve accessibility both for people using their tools and for users accessing websites made with WordPress.

The company follows closely the core guidelines of W3C and gives a lot of pre-made accessibility web designs to users and developers to use.

Achieving accessibility online can protect your business from lawsuits and fines. But the key aspect of it is that you can make a positive change to people’s lives when making your content accessible for people with disabilities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are WordPress Websites Accessible?

Not all of them. The company offers pre-made accessible designs to users, but if you are designing your website from scratch, you need to make sure that it complies with the accessibility standards put in place by WordPress and W3C.

Is It Hard to Make a Website Accessible?

Yes and no. It depends on whether you have started your accessibility journey early on. The earlier you start, the easier it will be.

How Can I Be Sure That My WordPress Website Is Accessible?

You can check it with different tools and scanners and also involve experts to make an audit of your page.