Carousel moves on its own

Why does it matter?

Hero sliders that change every few seconds distract people with attention difficulties and move text away before slow readers finish it. WCAG asks that anything moving on its own for more than five seconds can be paused, and pausing only while the pointer is over it does not help keyboard or touch users.

Who it affects: Keyboard and screen reader users filling in forms, people with low vision who rely on clear hover and focus styles, people distracted or made unwell by motion, and anyone who finds their way around a site by its menus and help links.

What does Lumtera flag?

Runs in Lumtera Pro's Page checks (Lumtera → Checks → Page checks), at desktop width, on up to three sliders per page (Swiper, Slick, Splide, Glide, Owl Carousel, Flexslider, Bootstrap, or aria-roledescription="carousel"). Lumtera watches each for six seconds. If it changes slides on its own, it looks for a pause or stop button, presses it and watches again: no button, or a button that does not stop it, is reported; one that works is a tip to confirm with the keyboard. A few seconds of watching cannot prove the movement lasts longer than five, so findings are shown for review. The progress card counts down and offers "Skip slider checks". Scheduled checks never run it.

Check ID page-carousel-motion, as shown in review mode and saved results.

How do I fix it in WordPress?

Turn off autoplay in the slider's settings, or add a visible pause button that stops the movement (most slider plugins have a "pause" or "autoplay controls" option). Pausing only while the pointer is over the slider is not enough for keyboard and touch users.

Example

new Swiper( ".hero", { autoplay: { delay: 3000 } } ); // no pause button

new Swiper( ".hero", { autoplay: false } );

How do I check the fix?

1. Run the page check again from Lumtera Pro's Page checks screen. The finding disappears once the page passes.
2. Submit the form with the required fields empty, using only the keyboard and then a screen reader: the errors should be announced, focus should move to them, and each message should say what to fix. Hover over and Tab to links and buttons to see that they stay readable, and compare the menus on a few pages.