Accessibility

Accessibility means designing and maintaining websites so that people can perceive, understand, navigate and operate them across different abilities, devices and assistive technologies.

In WordPress, accessibility is shared across content, themes, plugins, blocks, custom code, editorial workflows and ongoing maintenance. A strong theme can provide an accessible foundation, but inaccessible content or plugin interfaces can still create barriers.

This section explains accessibility as a continuous quality practice rather than a final compliance checkbox.

What You Will Learn

By completing this section, you will understand how to:

• Recognize the purpose and scope of web accessibility.
• Apply the perceivable, operable, understandable and robust principles.
• Write content that is clear and structurally meaningful.
• Use headings, landmarks and page regions correctly.
• Distinguish links from buttons.
• Write appropriate alternative text.
• Choose readable colour, contrast and typography.
• Support keyboard navigation and visible focus.
• Create accessible forms and error messages.
• Structure data tables correctly.
• Provide captions, transcripts and media alternatives.
• Evaluate themes and plugins before adoption.
• use the Block Editor without introducing avoidable barriers.
• Combine automated and manual testing.
• Maintain accessibility after launch.

A Practical Standard

WCAG 2.2 is the primary technical reference used throughout this section, with Level AA as the working target for most public WordPress projects.

WCAG conformance is assessed against testable success criteria. It is not established by installing a plugin, choosing an accessibility-ready theme or passing one automated scan.

Legal requirements vary by country, sector and organization. This manual explains technical and editorial practice, not legal advice.

Accessibility Is Shared

Different roles influence different barriers:

• Writers control language, headings, links, images and tables.
• Designers control contrast, typography, interaction and visual states.
• Site builders control templates, block patterns and editor constraints.
• Developers control semantics, keyboard behavior, focus, errors and APIs.
• Administrators control software selection and update processes.
• Product owners control priorities, governance and support routes.

Accessibility improves when these responsibilities are defined before launch.

Explore the Section

The section begins with accessibility foundations, then moves through content, structure, interaction, forms, media, software selection, Block Editor workflows, testing and long-term maintenance.

Each article can be used independently, but the sequence creates a complete operational model.