Skip to main content

🎉 Lumtera Pro Introductory Offer — 50% OFF! ✨ Go Pro for half the price. Limited time! 🚀

Offer ends in 0d 00h 00m

Get Lumtera Pro

Checklist

WCAG 2.2 checklist for WordPress

WCAG 2.2 Levels A and AA contain 55 success criteria. This checklist explains each one in plain language, shows how to check it on a WordPress site, and marks which ones an automated checker such as Lumtera can test for you — and which always need a person.

Updated September 28, 2026. General information, not legal advice.

How to use this checklist

Work through it one template at a time — home page, a post, a page, an archive, search, the 404 page and, for stores, product, cart and checkout. Most accessibility problems repeat across every page that shares a template, so fixing the template fixes them everywhere.

Criteria marked "Partly automated" have at least one Lumtera check that finds common failures. Treat these as a head start, not a pass: a criterion can still fail in ways no tool can see. Criteria marked "Manual" need a person with a keyboard, a screen reader or both.

The checklist

37 of the 55 criteria have at least one check in the free plugin that finds common failures automatically, and 7 more have a Lumtera Pro test. A check that covers a criterion looks at it; it does not prove the page meets it. The rest need a person.

1. Perceivable

2. Operable

3. Understandable

4. Robust

What automated checks can and cannot tell you

Automated checks are good at things that are clearly present or absent in the code: an image with no alt attribute, a form field with no label, a heading level that jumps. They cannot judge meaning — whether alt text describes the image well, whether the reading order makes sense, or whether a custom menu works with a keyboard.

That is why a Lumtera score of 100 means "no automated issues found", never "compliant". Use the checks to clear the common problems quickly, then spend your manual testing time on the criteria below that need judgement.

Some criteria can only be tested on the finished page, with the theme in place: contrast of menu and footer text, the skip link, landmarks, target size, focus hidden behind a sticky header, and whether menus and dialogs work with a keyboard. Lumtera's free review mode runs 33 whole-page checks for these in your browser, including a keyboard walk that numbers every Tab stop and widget tests for menus, dialogs and tabs.

With review mode, Lumtera's automated checks cover 37 of these 55 criteria, fully or in part; the checks of saved content alone cover 25. Covering a criterion means a check looks at it, not that your site meets it. For the rest, Lumtera's free guided checklists walk you through each test and record the result.

What changed in WCAG 2.2

WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation in October 2023 and was published as ISO/IEC 40500:2025 in October 2025. It keeps everything from WCAG 2.1 except 4.1.1 Parsing, which was retired, and adds six criteria at Levels A and AA:

  • 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) — sticky headers and banners must not hide the focused element.
  • 2.5.7 Dragging Movements — anything done by dragging must also work with single clicks.
  • 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) — small links and buttons need at least 24×24 pixels or enough space around them.
  • 3.2.6 Consistent Help — contact details and help links stay in the same place on every page.
  • 3.3.7 Redundant Entry — do not ask for the same information twice in one process.
  • 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum) — logging in must not depend on a memory or transcription test.

Questions

Which WCAG level should a WordPress site aim for?

Level AA. It is what the European Accessibility Act's standard, the ADA Title II rule and most policies point to. Level A alone leaves out important criteria such as color contrast.

Does passing this checklist make my site compliant?

It is a strong foundation, but what the law asks of you depends on where you operate and on how thoroughly each criterion is tested. For your most important pages and services, an audit by an accessibility specialist gives you an independent view. This checklist is general information, not legal advice.

Is WCAG 2.1 still acceptable?

Several laws still reference WCAG 2.1 AA. Because 2.2 includes nearly everything in 2.1, meeting 2.2 covers 2.1 as well — apart from the retired 4.1.1 Parsing.

Sources

Find these issues on your own site

Lumtera checks every post, page and product against 69 WCAG 2.2 checks while you write, checks the rendered page in review mode, keyboard included, and scans the whole site in one click. Free, with no account.

Download free (downloads lumtera.zip from WordPress.org) Browse the check library
  • Free

    Honest coverage meter

    Next to every automated score, a meter shows how many WCAG 2.2 A/AA criteria the checks cover, how many have evidence and how many need a person.

  • Free

    Keyboard walk and widget tests

    Review mode's Keyboard tab numbers every Tab stop on the page, flags focus you cannot see, and opens menus, dialogs and tabs from the keyboard.

  • Free

    Guided checklists

    One guided item for each WCAG 2.2 A and AA criterion that needs a person, with steps anyone can follow, recorded per page with who checked it and when.

Start with the free plugin today

All 69 content checks and 33 whole-page checks, fixes you approve with undo, and the site report — free, with no account and no page limits.

Download free (downloads lumtera.zip from WordPress.org)See Pro plans