Applying EveryRamp's fixes on WordPress

The short answer: for a site built on WordPress with the standard block editor, nearly every fix EveryRamp flags can be made directly in the page editor by whoever already edits your pages. A handful of site-wide things live in your theme instead. This page describes WordPress's own public documentation; it is not a review of any theme or plugin.

How the split works on WordPress — and why it's different here

WordPress itself is free, open-source software. There's no single company that owns template-level support the way a vendor platform does. Instead:

  • Content-level — nearly everything EveryRamp flags on a WordPress page, fixed in the block editor. This is the biggest content-level bucket of any platform.
  • Template-level — a handful of site-wide things: the page-language setting, the theme's CSS, and an embedded box's title. These live in the theme or in code, not the page editor. Send these to whoever maintains your theme: your website developer, agency, or hosting provider — or, for a free theme, its own support forum on WordPress.org.

Fixes you can make in the block editor

  • Image descriptions: select the image block, open Block settings, then the Content tab, then Alternative text, and describe what the image shows — or use the "Mark as decorative" checkbox if it adds no information. Alt text set in the Media Library becomes the default wherever you insert that image again; alt text set in the block itself only applies to that one page.
  • Headings: insert a Heading block (type "/heading", or "##" for an H2, "###" for an H3) and keep levels in order, without skipping one just to make text bigger. To check the order you've used, open Document Overview, then the Outline tab, in the top toolbar, which lists every heading and how they're nested.
  • Link text: select the linked words directly in the paragraph and retype them so they say where the link goes — for example, retype "click here" to "download the fee schedule (PDF)." Use the link preview's Edit option only if the destination address itself also needs to change.
  • Tables: insert a Table block, then in Block settings turn on Header section (and Footer section if the table needs one), so screen readers can announce each column's header.
  • Page title: every WordPress post or page starts with its own Add title field at the top of the editor. Make sure it names the page and your organization, separately from any on-page heading.
  • Missing labels on a form field: if your form is built with a block-editor form plugin, use that plugin's own field-label setting. This varies by which plugin you use.

Fixes that need your theme developer or host

These need access to the theme's code or the Customizer, not just the page editor:

  • Page language not set correctly: the page-language attribute is normally set once in the theme, not per page.
  • Low color contrast, or no visible keyboard-focus outline: if this is pure color, your site's administrator can often fix it without a developer, at Appearance, then Customize, then Additional CSS — this applies sitewide and previews live before you save, but it resets if you ever switch themes. A deeper theme problem still needs your developer.
  • No way to skip repeated navigation, or a keyboard trap: these usually need a small code change in the theme itself.
  • An embedded map, video or calendar with no title: WordPress's own Embed block does not expose a title-text setting in its block settings, only sizing and CSS options. Adding a title means either using a Custom HTML block to paste the embed code with a title added by hand, or asking your developer to add it in the theme.

Send this to whoever maintains your theme:

Our WordPress site was tested against WCAG 2.1 AA. The following need a theme or code-level fix, not a page-editor change:

  • Page language not set correctly (WCAG 3.1.1) — sitewide
  • Text/background color contrast too low (WCAG 1.4.3) — [page address, element]
  • No visible outline when tabbing with a keyboard (WCAG 2.4.7) — sitewide
  • No way to skip repeated navigation to reach page content (WCAG 2.4.1) — sitewide
  • Keyboard focus gets stuck in part of the page (WCAG 2.1.2) — [page address]
  • An embedded map, video or calendar has no title attribute (WCAG 4.1.2) — [page address]

If your theme is a paid, commercially supported theme, send this to that theme's own support channel. If it's a free theme from the WordPress.org directory, post it in that theme's support forum instead — there's no single company to open a ticket with.

Replacing a PDF without breaking its link

Open the existing document in a File block and click Replace, then choose the new file from your computer or Media Library.

Important — a same-named upload does not automatically reuse the old address. WordPress requires every file in the Media Library to have a unique name. If you upload a new file with the exact same name as one already there, WordPress renames the new one by adding a number (fee-schedule.pdf becomes fee-schedule-1.pdf), which gets its own, different address. Do one of the following instead:

  1. To keep the old address: first delete or rename the old file in the Media Library, then upload EveryRamp's rebuilt PDF with the original file name. With the old name now free, the new upload takes it. Click Copy URL afterward and confirm it matches the old address before you publish.
  2. Or, the safer default: upload the rebuilt PDF under any name, click Replace in the File block so the page now links to it, click Copy URL, and update any other place that linked to the old address — menus, other pages, anything off-site — to the new address.

Either way, check the live link works before you consider it done.

After you fix things

Once your fixes — and any theme-level fix from your developer — are live, go back to your EveryRamp order page and press "Re-test my site." Your test report updates automatically, and EveryRamp re-tests every month for 12 months.

This page is general information, not legal advice.

Back to: where each fix goes, by platform