How it works

Four steps, in the order you would want to do them. Everything runs on your own site.

Scan

A11yMate finds your pages and checks each one twice. The server pass fetches every URL as an anonymous visitor and runs the structural rules in PHP. The rendered pass loads each page in a hidden frame in your own browser, at desktop and mobile widths, and measures what only a rendered page can show.

Homepage, every published post and page, public custom post types, a sample of archives, search and the 404 page
Runs in batches from the admin, from WP-Cron on a schedule or from WP-CLI
Pause, resume or cancel, and pick up again if you close the tab

Understand

Each problem comes with the WCAG 2.2 criterion it relates to, how serious it is, why it matters to a real person and exactly how to fix it. The same issue on the same element across many pages is shown once, as a single problem on many pages, so the list is something you can work through.

69 rules with plain-English explanations and code examples
Severity from critical to minor, and a clear marker where a person needs to judge
Template-level grouping, so a footer problem is one line, not forty

Fix

Some fixes are safe to automate, and you can switch those on one at a time. Others need a decision. For those, A11yMate gives you the exact value: the nearest passing colour that keeps your hue, a recommended font size, or the HTML to paste in.

Safe Fixes: front-end only, off by default, each with a plain explanation
Colour Studio and Typography Studio suggest the values, you choose whether to apply them
Alt Text Manager lets you describe your images from one list

Prevent

Fixing a site once is not enough if the next post brings the same problems back. The Editor Assistant checks content as it is written, and scheduled scans tell you when something slips through.

A sidebar and pre-publish panel in the block editor
Scheduled scans with an email digest of new and fixed issues
A score you can follow over time, and an accessibility statement you can keep current

Why every page is checked twice

Some problems are in the HTML. Others only exist once the browser has applied your CSS. Checking both is how A11yMate stays accurate without sending anything off your site.

Server pass

PHP fetches each URL as an anonymous visitor and reads the HTML.

Missing alt text
Page language
Headings and landmarks
Form labels
ARIA misuse
Page titles

Works from the admin, WP-Cron and WP-CLI.

Rendered pass

Your browser loads each page in a hidden same-origin frame at 1280px and 375px.

Colour contrast
Text size and spacing
Tap target size
Focus visibility
Reflow at 320px
Motion

Needs the admin open in a browser. Scheduled and WP-CLI scans say so in the results.

What automation can and cannot do

Automated checks find roughly a third to a half of WCAG issues. That is true of every automated tool, A11yMate included. Automation covers the legwork and people have to cover the rest.

A machine can see that an image has no alt text. It cannot tell you whether the alt text you wrote is accurate. It can measure the contrast of text on a plain background. It cannot judge text laid over a photo. So A11yMate marks those rules "needs review", and tells you which ones they are.

Treat A11yMate as the thing that does the legwork, so your time with real people and real assistive technology goes to the questions only they can answer.

See which rules need a human