WordPress accessibility plugins assist you in spreading your website across every section of society, especially to the traffic with disabilities.
The differently abled users of a website need special attention. For example, users with disabilities require screen readers, large call-to-action buttons, high contrast color combinations, closed captions, image alt attributes, etc.
Since you are busy creating content, social media engagement, and marketing, making your WordPress website more accessible would be costly and time-consuming. Instead, you can use the AI tools and plugins for WordPress websites that automatically format your web page design according to the best accessibility practices.
The followings are some of the best WordPress plugins website owners use to comply with ADA or EU accessibility norms.
- 1. UserWay
- 2. One Click Accessibility
- 3. All in One Accessibility
- 4. accessiBe
- 5. WP Accessibility Tools
- 6. Equalize Digital
1. UserWay
UserWay is a globally popular WordPress plugin for web accessibility, known for its developer-friendly features. It does not need existing website code refactoring, and the plugin’s basic widget is available for free.
UserWay’s widget offers light, accessibility-friendly designs with up to 28 features. This free version of UserWay’s Accessibility Widget is great for a trial, giving you a snapshot of its potential.
For a fully operational commercial website, you may benefit from the Widget Pro. However, the free plan will help increase your website’s compliance with standards like ATAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, Section 508, and the ADA by 20%, a strong starting point in your web accessibility journey.
This accessibility plugin is powered by AI that scans your WordPress site for accessibility issues, providing useful recommendations for improvements.
Key features:
- Identifying and fixing accessibility issues in real time to ensure your site is compliant with minimal effort.
- UserWay’s WP Plugin helps you align with ADA law, Section 508, and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
- Designed to work on your site without touching your code
- Integrates effortlessly into your site with just a few clicks
- Full suite of 100+ AI-powered accessibility tools
- Provides instant accommodations for common disability profiles from vision impairments to dyslexia and beyond.
- Ultralight weight — just 23 KB
- Get an exact match to your website’s colors, and customize the look and feel
- 50+ supported languages
One of the best features of UserWay is that it lets users navigate your website without any mouse.
2. One Click Accessibility
If you are an admin of your WordPress website and looking for an easy configuration and control of accessibility settings, you can try One Click Accessibility. The tool offers basic accessibility settings like ARIA landmarks, outline focus, clearing target attributes for links, and skip links.
Moreover, its easy-to-use accessibility toolbar for WordPress sites can resize fonts, and underline links, enable negative contrast, trigger high contrast, and generate site maps. Above all, you can review the design changes visually before making those online.
One-Click Accessibility not just transforms your WordPress website to comply with accessibility standards. It also makes your web page SEO-friendly. And, you get all these features for free since it is a free WordPress plugin.
3. All in One Accessibility
All in One Accessibility is a quick WordPress website accessibility improvements plugin developed based on AI. It improves WordPress website accessibility for the wide range of global accessibility standards including: ADA, WCAG 2.1 & 2.2, Section 508, California Unruh Act, Australian DDA, European EAA EN 301 549, UK Equality Act (EA), Israeli Standard 5568, Ontario AODA, Canada ACA, German BITV, France RGAA, Brazilian Inclusion Law (LBI 13.146/2015), Spain UNE 139803:2012, JIS X 8341 (Japan), Italian Stanca Act and Switzerland DDA Standards.
Some top features of All in One Accessibility include Screen Reader, Voice Navigation, Dictionary, Virtual Keyboard, Accessibility Profiles, Talk & Type, Sign language Libras (Brazilian Portuguese) Custom Widget Color, Icon size, Position, GA4 Tracking and custom accessibility statement link.
All in One Accessibility’s AI automatically remediates images to Alternative text and uses the accessibility interface, which handles UI and design related adjustments. The All in One Accessibility widget enhances your WordPress website accessibility to people with hearing or vision impairments, motor impaired, color-blind, dyslexia, cognitive & learning impairments, seizure and epileptic, and ADHD problems.
AI Widget Supports 140 Languages and Voice Over. It is a flexible & lightweight widget that can be changed according to law and reduces the risk of time-consuming accessibility lawsuits.
All in One Accessibility offers the following features as add-ons.
- PDF / Document Remediation
- White-Label & Custom Branding
- Live Site Translation
- Modify Accessibility Menu
- VPAT / ACR Report
- Manual Accessibility Audit
- Accessibility Scanning and Monitoring
All in One Accessibility Pros
Easy to install with just a single line of code.
Supports over 140+ languages.
Helps you easily comply with ADA and WCAG standards.
Compatible with Most CMS, LMS, CRM, and E-commerce Platforms.
Customization and Flexibility
24/7 Support
Super Cost-Effective
All in One Accessibility Cons
For more advanced accessibility needs, users may need to purchase Full Web Accessibility Remediation Service.
Access to certain functionalities like Accessibility Audit, PDF/ Document Remediation, and Live Website Translation may require purchasing additional paid add-ons.
All in One Accessibility Pricing
Single Site Plans:
- Small Site: $25/month or $250/year – Up to 50K Pageviews Per Month
- Medium Site: $49/month or $490/year – Up to 100K Pageviews Per Month
- Large Site: $99/month or $999/year – Up to 500K Pageviews Per Month
- Extra Large Site: $199/month or $1,999/year – Up to 1000K Pageviews Per Month
Multi-Site Plans:
- Silver (Up to 3 websites): $1299/year — Up to 500K Pageviews Per Month
- Gold (Up to 5 websites): $1999/year — Up to 1000K Pageviews Per Month
- Platinum (Up to 10 websites): $2999/year — Up to 2000K Pageviews Per Month
A 10-day free trial is available, which includes access to all features, and can be
canceled at any time. You can sign up for a monthly or yearly plan; Yearly
plans give you a 20% discount.
4. accessiBe
Over 100,000 websites rely on accessiBe to comply with several accessibility standards globally. Its platinum clients include big names in the industry like GE, British Airways, Hilton, UCLA, Patek Philippe, etc. Therefore, if you need a comprehensive solution for website accessibility, you can give it a try.
accessiBe’s AI programming automatically scans your web page’s back end and front end to locate and resolve accessibility issues. For example, it can itself rectify icons, ARIA attributes, image alt texts, and forms.
It can also help you modify the page structure to make it more keyboard-friendly. Moreover, the plugin keeps on scanning new content so that there is no accessibility settings mismatch between old and new content.
accessiBe employs more than one, at least two, separate programs to accomplish maximum accessibility standard requirements. For example, the GUI accessibility interface of this WordPress accessibility plugin controls the design and user interface (UI) elements of your website and complies with WCAG 2.1 guidelines.
On the other hand, the AI accessibility tool works in the background of your website. Whenever any differently-abled user requests full keyboard-based navigation or screen reader support, the AI handles those queries.
5. WP Accessibility Tools
The WordPress.org portal also offers some reliable, efficient, and easy-to-use accessibility plugins. One of the best from the WordPress plugins portal is WP Accessibility Tools & Missing Alt Text Finder. Like WordPress, this plugin is also an open-source project. Therefore, you can enjoy its services and benefit your website for free.
The development team also actively monitors the plugin for bugs and releases updates frequently. For example, the latest version of the tool is 1.4, and it looks like the development team releases updates every few months.
Speaking of compatibility, the tool supports various WordPress versions like 4.8 and above. The developers have also tested the plugin on WordPress 5.8.4. Furthermore, the tool is also compatible with PHP version 5.3 and higher. As of now, more than 4,000 WordPress sites use this plugin actively, and it has managed to secure a 5-star rating.
Focusing on the tool features will reveal that the plugin only helps you become ADA Section 508 compliant. The developers also say that it comes with an automated checklist to show website shortcomings that stop your site from becoming WCAG 2.1 compliant.
Hence, the tool should be a great accessibility settings auditor that suggests fixes. However, you need to implement those fixes on your own or with the help of a website developer. In addition to accessibility auditing, the plugin offers the following instant fixes:
It lets you insert description text, caption text, and alt text for images one by one or with a single click. Additionally, it has an inbuilt contrast ratio checker.
Though the tool does not offer many features, but pretty okay since it is an open-source plugin, you can use the tool and rely on other fixes to achieve accessibility compliance.
6. Equalize Digital
Equalize Digital is another trusted tool for accessibility checking and fixing. You can get its free or paid accessibility audit tool to understand WordPress website issues. Then, you can sit with a developer to fix those. Or you can also get an accessibility design remediation service from Equalize Digital to make your website compliant with various accessibility standards.
The accessibility audit performs tasks like issue scanning, monitoring for performance optimization, and reporting the accessibility status of the web portal. In addition, the scanning works in real-time, which means you do not need to stop uploading content, changing themes, or adding plugins, since the tool keeps on checking every change on the website.
What Are WordPress Accessibility Plugins?
To understand WordPress accessibility plugins, you need to know the definition of website accessibility. Web page accessibility ensures that every internet user can consume content on the portal. Again, website consumption means navigating through the pages, understanding the visual or written content, and participating in website content creation.
When audiences with cognitive, auditory, physical, neurological, visual, and speech disabilities can consume content on the web page, experts say the website is accessible.
To ensure website developers follow a standard accessibility design practice, W3 Web Accessibility Initiative has created an international policy. It is commonly known as WCAG, aka the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. It has many versions like WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, and WCAG 2.2.
If you are developing your website outside WordPress, you need to incorporate the aforementioned web page accessibility design guidelines manually.
But, if you are managing your website inside WordPress, then there are automatic tools that can format your web portal according to the international accessibility standards. These WordPress content management system plugins are commonly known as WordPress accessibility plugins.
Importance of WordPress Accessibility Plugins?
Several stringent acts around the world safeguard the right of users with disabilities to access information technology-based services and products effortlessly. For example, the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design, ADA compliance is mandatory for public-facing services based on IT like smartphones and websites.
The Web Accessibility Directive of the EU also makes it mandatory that mobile apps and website developers build products that are accessibility compliant. Therefore, the primary benefit of using accessibility plugins is to comply with these digital content regulations and guidelines. There are also other important benefits like:
Website Reputation
If your website has better accessibility ratings, your online reputation increases drastically. Because the users see you as an inclusive business or company, they prefer you over other websites that do not follow the accessibility standards.
Increase Audience
When the website is accessible for users with disabilities, you get web traffic from all the sections of internet consumers. Increased traffic means better conversion probability and ultimately more revenue.
Increase SEO Ranking
It has been observed that if your website follows accessibility guidelines like alt text for images and closed captions for videos, the website performs better than those who do not offer these features.
Conclusion
Website accessibility has become an essential attribute for public-facing web pages and portals. On top of that, if a website’s revenue depends on traffic, then it must comply with accessibility norms to attract a massive audience.
Today’s developers take accessibility features seriously and address the issues during the initial development project. Also, website owners employ developers for site maintenance and accessibility fixing for updates and new content.
If you are using WordPress, you have an advantage over other platform users. You do not need any developer to address accessibility issues. You can simply use any of the tools mentioned above to make your website accessible to differently-abled users.