WordPress Accessibility Coding Standards

Distilled from the official WordPress Accessibility Coding Standards (developer.wordpress.org). Code integrated into the WordPress ecosystem is expected to conform to WCAG 2.2 at Level AA; ATAG 2.0 is encouraged for authoring tools. Level AAA conformance is encouraged where relevant.

Goal

Know what the WordPress accessibility conformance commitment actually is — the levels, principles, criteria, and the authoritative documents — and route hands-on enforcement to the wp-accessibility skill.

When to use

• Answering "what does the WordPress accessibility standard require"
• Questions about WCAG conformance levels (A/AA/AAA), principles, or techniques
• Choosing authoritative references for an accessibility audit

The standard

Conformance levels

• Level A — barriers on a very wide scale; the minimum for most web interfaces
• Level AA — common needs with broad reach; WordPress's commitment level
• Level AAA — very specific needs, often difficult to implement; encouraged where relevant

The four principles (POUR)

1. Perceivable — text alternatives (1.1), time-based media (1.2), adaptable content (1.3), distinguishable presentation (1.4)
2. Operable — keyboard access (2.1), enough time (2.2), no seizures/physical reactions (2.3), navigable (2.4), input modalities (2.5)
3. Understandable — readable text (3.1), predictable behavior (3.2), input assistance (3.3)
4. Robust — compatible with current and future user agents incl. assistive tech (4.1)

Success criteria and techniques

• Each guideline has testable success criteria — automated and human testing
• Techniques are Sufficient (required to meet criteria), Advisory (beyond requirements), or Failures (cause criteria to fail)
• Usability testing runs alongside accessibility testing — criteria alone are not enough

Normative documents

• W3C WCAG 2.2 (the requirements) · W3C ATAG 2.0 (authoring tools) · W3C WAI-ARIA 1.1 (ARIA spec)

Informative documents

• Understanding WCAG 2.2 · Using ARIA · WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (design patterns) · Introduction to ATAG

Authoritative resources

WebAIM, UK Government Digital Service, Section 508, TPGi, Deque, W3C APG — plus the community references listed on the official page (Roselli, O'Hara, Dolson, Inclusive Components, etc.)

Relationship to wp-accessibility

• This skill — conformance, levels, principles, references (the standard)
• wp-accessibility skill + docs/accessibility.md — the enforcement checklist: contrast 4.5:1, keyboard operability, focus, aria, labels, reduced motion, Theme Review minimums

Rules

• WCAG 2.2 AA is the commitment — never claim AAA conformance without evidence
• Cite normative docs when challenged; don't guess criteria numbers
• Never fake audit results — only report what was actually run

Output contract

• Standards questions: answer with the level, principle, and normative source
• Audits: hand off to wp-accessibility for the enforcement checklist

References

• Accessibility Coding Standards — official
• WCAG 2.2 · ATAG 2.0 · WAI-ARIA 1.1
• Internal: accessibility enforcement · wp-accessibility