What the checker does
It opens your home page in a real browser, on desktop and on mobile, the way a visitor would, and tests the rendered page against WCAG 2.2 level A and AA. You get a private report by email in a few minutes, with issues sorted by severity and the elements they were found on.
Because it looks at the page your visitors get, it sees everything WordPress outputs together: theme templates, page builder widgets, plugin markup and your content. It never logs in, never submits forms and needs no access to wp-admin.
Why check without a plugin
Accessibility plugins that run inside WordPress are handy while you edit, but they only see what WordPress knows about. Scripts loaded by a cookie banner, a chat widget or a booking plugin, and changes made by caching and optimization plugins, show up only in the final page. An outside check also leaves your production site untouched: nothing to install, update or remove.
Where WordPress sites usually break
| Issue | Where it usually comes from | Where to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| No visible focus outline | Theme CSS with outline: none |
Child theme stylesheet |
| Buttons without names (menu, search, slider arrows) | Theme header, page builder icon widgets | Child theme template, widget settings |
| Form fields without labels | Contact Form 7, WPForms or Gravity Forms set to placeholders only | Form settings, field labels |
| Images without alt text | Media Library entries left empty | Media Library, block settings |
| Low contrast text and buttons | Theme colors, page builder global styles | Customizer, theme.json, builder globals |
| Dropdown menus that need a mouse | Theme or mega menu plugin | Theme navigation template, plugin settings |
| Headings out of order | Page builder headings picked for their size | Heading level in the block or widget |
| Popups that trap focus | Newsletter and cookie plugins | Plugin settings or a replacement plugin |
How to fix issues in WordPress
- Use a child theme for template and CSS changes, so theme updates don't wipe them out. With a block theme, many colors and styles live in
theme.jsonand the Site Editor. - Fix content where it lives. Alt text belongs in the Media Library and in image blocks, heading levels in each block or widget.
- Check plugin settings first. Form plugins usually have an option to show real labels instead of placeholders. Some sliders and popups can't be fixed and are better replaced.
- Skip the overlay. An accessibility widget adds a toolbar on top of the page, but the theme and plugin markup underneath stays the same.
- Check again after every fix and after big plugin or theme updates.
An "accessibility ready" theme is a good start, not the finish
Themes in the WordPress.org directory with the accessibility-ready tag passed a review of their own templates. Your page builder, plugins and content are added on top, and that is where most of the issues we find come from.
What automated checks can't tell you
Automated tools find only part of accessibility issues. They can't judge whether alt text describes the image well, whether the reading order makes sense or whether a checkout can be completed with a keyboard. The full fix adds manual testing with a keyboard and a screen reader, and fixes in your theme and plugins.
Last updated October 28, 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.