Ensure your site's accessibility with a pre-publish audit. Get in-post WCAG compliance help without API or per-page fees.
Plugin Website | Documentation | Compare Free to Pro | Get Pro | WP Accessibility Meetup | WP Accessibility Facebook Group
Equalize Digital’s Accessibility Checker provides accessibility error and warning notifications right on your post and/or page edit screen.
Accessibility Checker automatically scans your content each time you save a draft or hit publish, giving you real-time feedback on your post’s or page’s accessibility. Receive a visual overview of how your content stacks up against more than 40 different accessibility checks created to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 success criteria.
For each error or warning flagged, Accessibility Checker lists the code that triggered the error or warning. Each item is identified as an error or warning depending upon its severity, so that you can prioritize your fixes. Thorough documentation is available to guide you on how to fix accessibility problems on your website and personalized accessibility remediation assistance and accessibility consulting is available if desired.
For already accessible websites, Accessibility Checker is an excellent tool for ensuring ongoing compliance and accessibility.
The in-page tests help content managers and contributors confirm they have entered their content in an accessible manner. There’s no need to be an accessibility expert or memorize long lists of WCAG success criteria – Accessibility Checker provides an easy to understand accessibility checklist and reading level checks so that you can ensure you’re not adding accessibility problems as new content is added.
Content area scans are visible on each post’s or page’s edit screen as you type – no need to go elsewhere on your site to view results or visit a third-party website. These scans allow your team to create accessibile websites from the start, reducing the need for costly retroactive remediation.
Accessibility Checker is the best automated tool to run along with your manual accessibility tests. It’s perfect for small business websites, large enterprise organizations, and everything in between. Whether you’re running a small brochure website, an eCommerce store with thousands of products, or a multi-site network for a university, Accessibility Checker is the right tool for your website.
To get started with Accessibility Checker or learn more about how it works, please reference our Getting Started Quick Guide or watch this quick video demonstration of the software. Please note that the video demonstration does show some features that are only available in the paid version.
The Equalize Digital team aims to provide regular support for Accessibility Checker on the WordPress.org forums. If you have a question about the plugin or its use, please post in the support forum, and we will do our best to help you in a timely manner. Our support hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM U.S. central time. Please understand that we do prioritize support for purchasers of Accessibility Checker Pro.
If you need one-on-one email support, please consider purchasing Accessibility Checker Pro. Accessibility Checker Pro customers receive unlimited personal support on plugin usage and features.
Join our WordPress Accessibility Facebook group for community support and to connect with other developers, designers, and content creators who are working to make their websites more accessible. This is a great place to get free WP accessibility remediation assistance from others in the community.
For paid Accessibility Checker customers on a small business plan or above, we provide two accessibility office hour
calls each month to address your remediation queries. This is an invaluable resource for those who need direct assistance and expert insights when making their sites more accessible.
Accessibility Checker supports a variety of WordPress editors and can scan and identify issues no matter how you’re building your site. Accessibility Checker has been tested and confirmed compatible with:
Want to learn more about accessibility and stay on-top of accessibility best practices? Attend an official WordPress Accessibility Meetup!
These free virtual meetups are held twice per month via Zoom and are live captioned. Learn more about WP Accessibility Meetup
Equalize Digital is a Certified B Corporation, WordPress VIP Agency Partner, and corporate member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP), striving to create a world where all people have equal access to products and tools on web, regardless of ability. Our team has been building custom WordPress websites, themes, and plugins since 2010 and working on government, higher ed, and enterprise websites since 2016. We created Accessibility Checker after hearing from our clients about the challenges that they face in maintating accessibility on their websites. We’re continually working to improve Accessibility Checker and are proud to give back to the WordPress community through education and support.
Getting started with Accessibility Checker is as easy as installing and activating the plugin, then configuring a few basic settings.
1.Upload the unzipped ‘accessibility-checker’ folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory on your website via FTP.
2. Activate Accessibility Checker from your Plugins page.
3. Follow the ‘after activation’ steps listed below.
After activating the plugin, go to the Accessibility Checker settings page in your WordPress admin (found at ‘/wp-admin/admin.php?page=accessibility_checker_settings’) to configure the plugin settings.
Current settings in the free plugin include:
* Ability to control when the plugin prompts for a Simplified Summary.
* Ability to set the position of the Simplified Summary, if using, above or below content or manually with a function in a page template.
* Ability to turn off Accessibility Checker for posts or pages as desired.
* Set a username and password to allow scanning functionality on password-protected sites.
Accessibility Checker Summary tab on a page with numerous errors and warnings.
Accessibility problems can be viewed on the front end of the website, as shown on the NASA website.
Accessibility Checker Details tab showing errors, warnings, and passed checks.
Expanded error example 'Image Empty Alternative Text' showing the code for 7 items that caused the error to be flagged.
Ignore comment box and button to ignore the error.
Example of an ignored error, including the username and date/time the error was ignored. Ignored errors and warnings can be reopened if ignored incorrectly.
Accessibility Checker Readability Tab checks the grade level of the content and allows for the insertion of a simplified summary to meet WCAG AAA accessibility.
Accessibility Checker Summary tab on a page with no accessibility error or warnings and an included simplified summary.
No. Despite what other plugins, integrations, or overlay products might tell you, there is NO way for any automated tool or plugin to ensure your website is fully accessible. True accessibility can only be achieved through a combination of automated scans and manual review, and if you read the ‘fine print’ for any of the accessibility overlays or plugins on the market, you’ll see that they do not guarantee your website will be accessible.
Accessibility Checker does not make your website accessible, but it is a valuable tool to help you make your website accessible, the right way.
No. Accessibility Checker is a testing tool that scans for problems and presents reports in the admin dashboard. It does not “fix” problems or add any overlays, toolbars, or widgets to the front end of your website. It will not use JavaScript to modify how screen reader and other assistive technology users are able to engage with your website.
Accessibility Checker is the kind of accessibility tool that accessibility consultants and people with disability support – one that helps you identify issues so that you can make your website accessible the right way.
Accessibility Checker Free scans blog posts and pages, including the header, content area, sidebar, and footer on those pages. There is no limit to the number of pages or posts that you can scan with Accessibility Checker or the number of times any one page or post can be scanned. So, if your website only contains standard posts and pages, then YES, Accessibility Checker will scan all of your content. If you have custom post types (such as a portfolio, team member pages, or WooCommerce products), the free version of the plugin will not scan these posts.
For bulk full-site scanning or to check custom post types for accessibility, please upgrade to Accessibility Checker Pro.
Every error and warning in Accessibility Checker has an ‘i’ icon to the right of the error or warning name on the details tab. If you click these ‘i’ icons, you’ll be directed to a help article that clearly explains what the error or warning is, what its impact on accessibility is, and how to fix or resolve it. Generally, these help articles will provide sufficient information to point you in the right direction, but if you still have questions, open a support ticket on WordPress.org and we’ll do our best to help you.
Yes! If you need need accessibility fixes custom coded for your site, we offer website accessibility remediation to help bring your current site into compliance. Learn more about Website Accessibility Remediation
If Accessibility Checker is identifying errors in your theme or a plugin and you’re not sure how to fix them, the best bet is to reach out to the theme or plugin developer for assistance. If that does not work, we may be able to help. There is more guidance about how to handle problems in your theme or plugins at:
* What to do if a Plugin You’re Using has Accessibility Errors
* What to do if There are Accessibility Errors in Your Theme
Accessibility Checker does not load anything on the front end of your website so it has zero speed impact for your website visitors.
No, Accessibility Checker runs completely on your server and does not require you to connect to any external APIs or services for scans. This can save you thousands of dollars per year in accessibility scanning fees and is privacy-focused, ensuring that your website data stays completely under your control.
Older versions can be found in the plugins changelog.txt
.