Troy Chaplin

mikecorkum

<a href="https://blockaccessibilitychecks.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Block Accessibility Checks</a> is a comprehensive WordPress plugin that proactively prevents accessibility issues in your content before they reach your audience. Designed for the Gutenberg block editor, it provides real-time validation that ensures your images, buttons, tables, headings, galleries, and post meta fields meet WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) requirements.
Unlike reactive accessibility tools that scan published content, this plugin catches problems during the editing process—giving immediate visual feedback and preventing publication of content with critical accessibility errors. Content creators get clear guidance on what needs fixing, while developers can extend the system with custom checks for any block type or post meta field.
Whether you’re a content creator ensuring your posts are accessible, a developer building accessible blocks, or an organization maintaining compliance standards, Block Accessibility Checks provides the tools you need to create inclusive content effortlessly.
Key Features:
<ul>
<li>Real-time Visual Feedback – See accessibility issues instantly with color-coded borders around problematic blocks and detailed error messages in the block inspector panel</li>
<li>Smart Publishing Control – Prevents publication of content with critical accessibility errors while allowing warnings with user awareness</li>
<li>Comprehensive Block Coverage – Built-in checks for images, buttons, tables, headings, and galleries with multiple validation rules per block type</li>
<li>Post Meta Validation – Validate required post meta fields with real-time feedback, automatic post locking for errors, and seamless integration with block validation</li>
<li>Advanced Heading Validation – Document-wide hierarchy checking prevents skipped heading levels and ensures proper content structure</li>
<li>Intelligent URL Validation – Real TLD validation using the Public Suffix List ensures only legitimate domains are accepted</li>
<li>Configurable Settings – Granular control over each check’s severity (error/warning/disabled) with an intuitive admin interface for both block and meta validation</li>
<li>Issue Categorization – Clear distinction between accessibility issues and validation errors for better understanding</li>
<li>Developer-Friendly API – Comprehensive hooks and filters system for registering custom accessibility checks for blocks and post meta fields</li>
<li>External Plugin Support – Works seamlessly with custom blocks from third-party plugins and themes, with automatic settings page integration</li>
</ul>
How It Works:
The plugin provides immediate feedback as you edit content. When accessibility issues are detected in blocks or required meta fields, they are highlighted with visual indicators and detailed messages explain how to fix the problems. Critical errors prevent publishing until resolved, while warnings allow publication with user acknowledgment.
Built-in Accessibility Checks:
<ul>
<li>Button Blocks – Ensures buttons have descriptive text content and valid link destinations with real URL validation</li>
<li>Image Blocks – Requires alt text (unless marked decorative), validates length, prevents caption duplication, and detects non-descriptive patterns</li>
<li>Table Blocks – Requires proper headers or captions for screen reader navigation</li>
<li>Heading Blocks – Validates proper heading hierarchy (no skipped levels), ensures appropriate first heading level, and configurable heading level restrictions</li>
<li>Gallery Blocks – Applies comprehensive image accessibility checks to all gallery items</li>
<li>Post Meta Fields – Validate required custom fields with server-side and client-side validation, automatic post locking, and visual feedback in the editor</li>
</ul>
Perfect For:
<ul>
<li>Government websites requiring WCAG compliance</li>
<li>Educational institutions with accessibility mandates</li>
<li>Businesses committed to inclusive web content</li>
<li>Developers building accessible WordPress themes and plugins</li>
<li>Content teams who want accessibility guidance built into their workflow</li>
</ul>
Developer API:
Extend the plugin with <a href="https://github.com/troychaplin/block-accessibility-checks/blob/main/docs/" rel="nofollow ugc">custom accessibility checks</a> for any block type or post meta field. The robust API includes registration functions, validation hooks, and automatic JavaScript integration. Perfect for plugin developers who want to add accessibility validation to their custom blocks and ensure required meta fields are properly validated.
<h3>Getting Involved</h3>
If you would like to get involved and contribute to the development of this plugin or view it’s source code you can find more information in the <a href="https://github.com/troychaplin/block-accessibility-checks" rel="nofollow ugc">plugins GitHub repo</a>.

Block Accessibility Checks

Configure a series of block checks to prevent WCAG accessibility errors in content.

Graham Armfield

Amy Hendrix (sabreuse)

<h4>Purpose:</h4>
Many sites have dropdown menus where the expanding of the links can only be triggered by a mouse hover. This means that for keyboard only users parts of the site are harder or sometimes impossible to reach.
This plugin makes these dropdown menus keyboard accessible. When tabbing through the primary navigation the sub level menus will become visible and users will be able to tab to the lower level links.
The current version has been tested by both sighted keyboard-only users and screen reader users. If it doesn’t work for your reader, please let us know!
<h4>How it Works:</h4>
The plugin uses a combination of CSS and javascript to enable the dropdown menus to be keyboard controlled.
Using the script, whenever a link in the menu gets focus its containing list item (
<li>) is given the necessary class. This enables the new CSS definitions to open any hidden submenus and bring those links into the tabbing order.</li>
In the absence of javascript the full submenu lists may not open but the individual sub-links can be tabbed to.
<h4>Credits:</h4>
Current version built and maintained by Amy Hendrix.
The original version of this plugin was built by Graham Armfield. It is still available at http://www.coolfields.co.uk/2011/12/wordpress-keyboard-accessible-dropdown-menus-plugin-version-0-1/
The mechanism used in this plugin is based on the same logic used in Blake Haswell’s excellent example of a multi-level accessible dropdown menu. You can find it at: http://blakehaswell.com/lab/dropdown/deux/

Accessible Dropdown Menus

Makes dropdown menus in many WordPress themes keyboard accessible.

Block Accessibility Checks vs Accessible Dropdown Menus