ADA website checklist for WordPress
WordPress sites combine a theme, plugins, page builders and your own content, and accessibility issues can come from any of them. Work through this list in order.
This is a technical accessibility assessment, not legal advice, and automated testing cannot establish ADA compliance.
The six most common issues
The WebAIM Million, an annual automated scan of the top one million home pages, has found these six types of issue at the top of its list year after year.
- Images without alternative text. Media → Library → click the image → fill in “Alternative Text”. For images already placed on a page, open the page, select the Image block and fill in “Alternative text” in the block settings, since the block can override the library value.
- Low-contrast text. Block themes: Appearance → Editor → Styles → Colors. Classic themes: Appearance → Customize → Colors. Darken the text colors, and check page-builder sections that set their own colors. Aim for at least 4.5:1 with the WebAIM Contrast Checker.
- Form fields without labels. In your form plugin (Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms and others), give every field a visible label instead of placeholder text only. For search and newsletter fields from the theme, check its settings or ask the theme developer.
- Links with no readable name. Give linked images alternative text that describes the destination. Icon links in menus and widgets need a text label or aria-label.
- Buttons with no readable name. Icon buttons (menu, search, sliders) usually come from the theme or a page builder. Check the widget's settings for a label, or ask the developer to add aria-labels.
- Page language not declared. Settings → General → Site Language. If it's still missing, the theme's header.php should use <html <?php language_attributes(); ?>>.
Checks only a person can do
- Keyboard: press Tab through each key page. You should reach every link, menu and form field, see where you are, and never get stuck. On WooCommerce, add a product to the cart and check out using only the keyboard.
- Pop-ups and sliders: newsletter pop-ups, cookie banners and carousels from plugins should close with Escape and not trap keyboard focus.
- Screen reader: turn on VoiceOver (Mac: Cmd+F5) or NVDA (Windows, free) and listen to your home page, a product page and the contact form.
- Videos: speech in videos should have accurate captions.
Keep it from coming back
- Fill in alternative text whenever you upload an image.
- Keep your theme and plugins updated, and re-test after adding a new plugin that changes the front end.
- Keep dated records of what you fixed and when.
Want the specifics for your site? Our $149 Technical Assessment + Fix Plan maps your letter's claims to the actual issues on your pages, with step-by-step fixes and a dated before/after report after you fix them.