Table of Contents
Reviewed by: Tamar Schapira, SenseIT
Disclaimer:
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We recommend consulting a qualified attorney for guidance on accessibility compliance and legal requirements specific to your situation.
Website accessibility lawsuits surged in 2023, reaching 3,862 cases – 700 of which involved WordPress sites.
Creating an accessible website often involves working directly with code, but accessibility plugins can simplify the process significantly.
This guide focuses on three main types of tools designed to enhance website accessibility:
- Overlay Widgets – Tools that allow users to customize site accessibility settings, such as font size, contrast, and navigation aids, without modifying the core code.
- Accessible Plugins – Plugins that come equipped with built-in accessibility features, ensuring your site meets accessibility standards from the ground up.
- Accessibility Checkers – Tools that analyze your site for accessibility issues and provide actionable insights to improve compliance.
By understanding what each type of plugin offers and following best practices, you can create a more inclusive web experience for all users.
Overlay Widgets
Overlay widgets are recognizable by an accessibility icon, often found in the corner of a website, like a wheelchair or person symbol. Clicking the icon opens a menu with features to improve accessibility, such as adjusting text size, changing contrast and colors, enabling keyboard navigation, highlighting links, or stopping animations. These tools let users customize the site to suit their needs without altering its underlying code.
Word of warning regarding overlay widgets:
In 2023, over 4,500 website accessibility lawsuits were filed in the US, and notably, 20% of the defendants had an overlay toolbar implemented on their website at the time of the lawsuit.
This underscores that relying solely on these tools does not shield your site from potential legal challenges. As a web creator, you must ensure that the website you are building compliant with current standards and is rigorously tested to mitigate potential legal risks.
Among the most recommended widgets:
Ally Web Accessibility by Elementor
Accessibility Functionality:
While most accessibility widgets offer the same basic functionality, the Elementor version provides an easy to implement solution.
The Ally Web Accessibility plugin is designed to let users activate a suite of on-the-fly enhancements—such as text resizing, color adjustments, and even pausing animations—without requiring any modifications to the underlying website code.
When to Use It:
This plugin is ideal for website owners who want to empower visitors with personalized accessibility settings. It is especially beneficial when you need a quick solution to accommodate users with visual or motor impairments, ensuring that on-demand adjustments can be made without a complete site redesign or extensive coding knowledge.
Note! With Ally, Elementor has stepped into the ring of accessibility tools. We’re already building a more comprehensive solution to help you create accessible websites. We encourage you to start your journey with us today and stay tuned for updates.
UserWay Accessibility Widget
Accessibility Functionality:
The UserWay Accessibility Widget integrates a wide array of features directly into your site. It offers adjustable font sizes, high contrast modes, text-to-speech capabilities, and enhanced keyboard navigation—all through a simple overlay interface that users can toggle as needed.
When to Use It:
Site owners who require a comprehensive, all-in-one accessibility tool will appreciate UserWay’s seamless integration and robust feature set.
Equalize Digital’s Accessibility Checker
Accessibility Functionality:
Equalize Digital’s Accessibility Checker not only performs detailed scans of your website for accessibility issues but also includes an overlay widget that enables real-time adjustments such as contrast modifications, text resizing, and focus navigation improvements.
When to Use It:
This hybrid tool is perfect for developers and site owners looking to combine ongoing accessibility monitoring with user-facing controls.
WP Accessibility Helper (WAH)
Accessibility Functionality:
WP Accessibility Helper (WAH) provides a range of overlay features, including high-contrast modes, font resizing, keyboard navigation enhancements, and informative tooltips.
When to Use It:
WAH is ideal for small to medium-sized websites that require an affordable and straightforward accessibility solution.
Accessible Plugins
Elementor
Accessibility Functionality:
Elementor is a powerful website builder that comes with built-in accessibility features such as semantic markup, proper ARIA roles, and keyboard navigation support.
When to Use It:
Choose Elementor when you want to build pages that are inherently accessible from the ground up.
ACF (Advanced Custom Fields)
Accessibility Functionality:
Accessibility is not just about the site visitor. In WordPress, a lot of the work of building a website is handled behind the scenes, with data entree professionals creating content by filling fields.
ACF is designed with a clean, semantic admin interface that can be tailored to meet accessibility best practices. It enables you to build accessible data entry forms by providing clearly labeled fields, support for ARIA attributes, and customizable layouts that ensure the resulting front-end content is structured and navigable for all users.
When to Use It:
ACF is ideal for websites that require robust data entry capabilities—whether you’re managing custom post types, gathering user input via specialized forms, or creating dynamic content sections.
Display Posts
Accessibility Functionality:
Display Posts is a versatile plugin that enables you to showcase posts or content in an organized, accessible manner.
When to Use It:
This plugin is ideal when you need to dynamically display content—such as blog posts, news updates, or event listings—in a structured and accessible way. It’s particularly useful for content-rich websites aiming to improve overall navigation and readability for users with diverse needs.
Gravity Forms
Accessibility Functionality:
Gravity Forms are designed to be both user-friendly and compliant with accessibility standards, ensuring that all visitors can easily complete and interact with them.
When to Use It:
Choose Gravity Forms when your site requires interactive forms—such as contact forms, registrations, or surveys—that must be accessible to all users.
My Calendar
Accessibility Functionality:
My Calendar is an accessible calendar plugin offering responsive design, clear event listings, and intuitive navigation controls.
When to Use It:
It is particularly useful for community organizations, educational institutions, or any site where accessible calendar functionality is critical to ensuring that all users can access scheduling information without barriers.
Accessibility Scanners
aXe by Deque
Accessibility Functionality:
aXe by Deque is a robust open-source tool designed to integrate seamlessly into your development workflow. It performs automated accessibility testing and provides detailed insights into WCAG compliance issues, making it easier to identify areas that need improvement.
aXe also includes a chrome extension that allows you to check the accessibility of various elements of your website.
When to Use It:
Use aXe during development to quickly catch and remediate accessibility issues, ensuring that your site meets established standards before it goes live.
WAVE
Accessibility Functionality:
WAVE is an intuitive online evaluation tool that visually highlights accessibility issues directly on your web pages. Its easy-to-understand interface allows you to see exactly where potential barriers exist, such as missing alt text or improper heading structures.
When to Use It:
WAVE is ideal for designers and developers who want a clear, visual assessment of their site’s accessibility, making it simple to pinpoint and address specific problems.
IBM
Accessibility Functionality:
IBM offers advanced accessibility testing tools that leverage artificial intelligence to analyze and predict potential compliance issues. These tools provide a unique, data-driven perspective on your website’s accessibility performance.
The uniqueness of IBM’s tools is that they cover the entire breadth of the building process, including the plan, design, develop, verify and launch phases. Check out their Figma accessibility kit here.
When to Use It:
IBM’s accessibility tools are particularly beneficial for large-scale websites and enterprises that require comprehensive analytics and predictive insights to drive continuous improvement in accessibility standards.
Lighthouse
Accessibility Functionality:
Lighthouse is an open-source auditing tool integrated into Chrome DevTools that evaluates various aspects of your website—including accessibility, performance, best practices, and SEO.
When to Use It:
Lighthouse is best suited for technical teams and developers who require an in-depth, code-level analysis of website accessibility.
Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker (Checker Variant)
Accessibility Functionality:
In its checker mode, Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker conducts a comprehensive analysis of your site, identifying issues related to contrast, text size, keyboard navigation, and other key accessibility parameters.
When to Use It:
This tool is essential for those who need a thorough diagnostic review of their site’s accessibility performance.
Next Steps
- Evaluate Your Needs:
- Use overlay widgets for quick fixes.
- Choose accessible plugins to build accessibility from the start.
- Rely on accessibility checkers for ongoing audits.
- Set Clear Goals:
Build accessibility into your design from day one and know that perfection is a continuous process—aim for recognized standards like WCAG and ADA. - Consult an Expert:
When in doubt, seek advice from an accessibility law specialist to ensure compliance and reduce legal risks.
Conclusion
The plugins and tools presented above let you manage website accessibility in three key ways. They allow for user customization, integrate accessibility into site construction, and provide checks for compliance issues. You must choose the tool that meets your website needs and follow accessibility standards. Use this guide as a starting point to build and maintain a site that is accessible for everyone.
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