Accessibility in WordPress Themes — Easier Than You Think

At WordCamp Europe 2026 Nathan Wrigley sat down with Jessica Lyschik to unpack a reassuring message: making WordPress themes accessible is often simpler than people fear. Jessica, a long‑time WordPress contributor and accessibility advocate who’s worked in theme review, agencies, and community projects since 2015, aims to demystify what “accessibility ready” actually means and show practical, achievable steps theme authors can take.

Why accessibility matters

Jessica frames accessibility as both a moral imperative and a practical advantage. Beyond legal obligations and compliance regimes, accessible sites help more people use the web. An invisible barrier on a website can be as disabling as a physical step outside a building. More recently, the rise of AI agents and automated assistants has given another reason to prioritize correct semantic markup: agents and assistive technologies rely on the underlying structure and descriptions to navigate and interact with pages. If your markup is technically correct, both people and machines can read and act on your content.

Common misconceptions and low‑hanging fruit

One big obstacle is documentation. WordPress.org’s accessibility ready requirements can read as cryptic to people new to the topic: they say what should be achieved but not always how to implement it. Jessica recommends focusing on a few straightforward, high‑impact fixes that often take minutes rather than days:

• Add descriptive alt text to images. The media library and block editor make this visible and easy. Don’t skip it.
• Use correct HTML landmarks: header, main, footer, section, aside. These give structure that screen readers and agents expect.
• Provide skip‑to‑content links so keyboard users can bypass repetitive navigation. In block themes, WordPress can add this automatically when you assign the proper block settings.
• Add labels or aria‑labels to icon‑only buttons so screen readers can describe their purpose.
• Ensure heading levels follow a sensible hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3, not jumping randomly between levels).

These steps are small but compound: fixing the pattern at the theme level saves repeated manual fixes across many pages and instances.

Block themes vs classic themes

Block themes make some accessibility tasks easier. Core handles certain patterns for you when template parts and proper blocks are used: header/footer semantics, form handling (comments, search), and skip links can be produced automatically by using the right blocks and settings. Classic themes generally require more manual work to ensure these structures and attributes are present. The takeaway: learn the right block patterns and build accessible templates once, then reuse them.

Accessibility ready tag and the WordPress repository

WordPress.org offers an accessibility ready tag for themes that meet a set of requirements. Currently about 18 criteria exist, including things like an accessibility.txt file describing accessibility features and any helper CSS classes for screen readers. While themes can still be uploaded without meeting these standards, only a small portion—roughly 270 themes, about 1.5% of the repository—carry the accessibility ready badge. Jessica argues that forcing all themes to comply immediately would be impractical; instead, clearer documentation and better onboarding will help more authors reach the standard.

The future: AI agents and broader attention

AI agents elevate the importance of good semantic HTML because they interact with websites like assistive technologies do: parsing structure, reading labels, and performing actions (for example, shopping workflows). If sites are built with accessible markup, future agents will be more likely to complete tasks reliably for users who rely on automation or assistive tech.

Teamwork and habits

Accessibility is interdisciplinary. Developers provide the technical structure, but content authors, designers, SEO specialists, and product teams all influence accessibility outcomes. Jessica stresses that accessibility becomes second nature over time: once you learn to add aria labels, structure headings, and fill alt text, these practices become habits that make future work faster and prevent larger fix‑up jobs later.

Resources and people to follow

Jessica recommends following accessibility experts in and outside the WordPress community to bridge the gap between standards and implementation. Names she mentioned include Joe Dolson, Rian Rietveld, Amber Hinds (Equalize Digital), and Sara Soueidan. She also suggests seeking tutorials, courses, and videos that turn dense WCAG documentation into practical, hands‑on guidance.

Final thoughts

Jessica’s core message is optimistic and pragmatic: accessibility in themes is achievable with modest effort, better documentation, and the right habits. By applying a few simple rules, using block theme patterns where possible, and making accessibility part of the design and content workflow, theme authors can make websites that work for more people — and are more resilient to future trends like AI agents.

For more detailed examples and the full talk, check the WordPress.tv recording and the show notes on WP Tavern, which will include links to resources and Jessica’s slides.