WordPress Accessibility: How to Make Your Site WCAG 2.1 Compliant

WordPress accessibility means building and maintaining your site so that people with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive disabilities can use it equally. WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the benchmark that most accessibility laws and procurement requirements reference. This guide covers the most impactful improvements you can make.

WordPress Accessibility: Core Requirements

Colour Contrast

Text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background for normal-sized text and 3:1 for large text. Use the WebAIM Contrast Checker to test your current colour combinations. Failing this test affects the significant portion of your audience with colour blindness or low vision.

Alt Text for Images

Every informational image needs alt text that describes its content for screen reader users. Decorative images (backgrounds, dividers) should have empty alt attributes so screen readers skip them. WordPress makes it easy to add alt text to every image in the Media Library.

Keyboard Navigation

Every interactive element on the page — links, buttons, forms, accordions — must be reachable and operable using only the keyboard. Test by pressing Tab to move through your page and Shift+Tab to go backwards. Everything should be reachable and clearly highlighted when focused.

Form Labels

Every form field needs a visible label that is programmatically associated with the input using the for/id attribute pair. Placeholder text alone does not meet accessibility requirements — it disappears when the user starts typing and is often too low-contrast.

WordPress accessibility: frequently asked questions

Further reading

Use the official W3C WCAG guidelines.