Joomla WCAG 2.1 Checker

WCAG 2.1 for Joomla Sites

WCAG 2.1 became a W3C Recommendation in June 2018. It added criteria for mobile, low vision and cognitive accessibility to WCAG 2.0, and it is the standard named in the US Department of Justice rule for state and local government websites, in EN 301 549 V3.2.1 and in most accessibility settlements.

This checker runs the free scan with the WCAG 2.1 AA preset, so the results match the standard your contract, policy or regulator is most likely to name for a Joomla site.

On Joomla sites, WCAG 2.1 issues usually come from themes: fixed-width layouts that do not reflow, light form borders, and hover menus that disappear when the pointer moves. Fix them in the theme or a child theme so every page benefits.

Who Should Run the Joomla WCAG 2.1 Checker

• Joomla site owners whose contracts or policies name WCAG 2.1 AA.
• State and local government bodies, under the ADA Title II rule.
• Businesses responding to an ADA demand letter, which usually cites WCAG 2.1 AA.
• Public sector bodies in the EU, under the Web Accessibility Directive.

WCAG 2.1 Criteria That Often Fail on Joomla

• 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose

  Form fields that collect personal data, such as name, email and address, need the right autocomplete attribute.

• 1.4.10 Reflow

  Content must reflow at 320 CSS pixels wide, the same as 400% zoom, without scrolling in two directions.

• 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast

  Buttons, form borders, icons and focus indicators need a contrast ratio of at least 3:1.

• 1.4.12 Text Spacing

  Text must stay readable when users increase line, paragraph, letter and word spacing.

• 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus

  Tooltips and menus that appear on hover or focus must be dismissible, hoverable and stay visible.

• 4.1.3 Status Messages

  Messages such as “added to cart” or form errors must be announced to screen readers without moving focus.

Where Joomla Sites Usually Fail WCAG 2.1

These problems come up again and again on Joomla sites, and each one fails WCAG 2.1. The Joomla accessibility checker explains how to fix them in Joomla.

• Template overrides. Overrides in the template’s html folder replace core output, and they can quietly drop labels, ARIA attributes and heading levels that Joomla would have produced.
• Module titles and positions. Modules output their titles as headings, so a module placed in the sidebar can break the heading order, and empty modules leave empty landmarks.
• Articles edited in the editor. Images inserted in the editor often go in without alt text, and text styled to look like a heading is a bold paragraph to a screen reader.
• Contact and form extensions. The core contact form and form extensions such as RSForm or ChronoForms can ship fields with placeholders instead of labels and errors that are not announced.
• Page builders, sliders and galleries. Commercial page builders and slider extensions generate nested markup, auto-advancing slides with no pause control and images without text alternatives.

Worried about ADA claims as well? The Joomla ADA compliance checker covers the Joomla risks behind most complaints.

What to Test by Hand on Joomla

Automated testing finds many, but not all, WCAG 2.1 failures. Check these yourself after the scan:

1. Zoom to 400% and check nothing is cut off or needs scrolling in two directions (1.4.10).
2. Apply increased text spacing with a bookmarklet and check text is still readable (1.4.12).
3. Open hover menus and tooltips and check you can dismiss them with Escape (1.4.13).
4. Rescan after each fix. Continuous monitoring rescans up to 500 URLs per domain daily and keeps a dated record in the Compliance Vault.

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Related Guides

• WCAG 2.1 AA CheckerThe WCAG 2.1 standard in full, for any website.
• WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content Explained in Plain EnglishWCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content explained simply: how to write alt text for every kind of image, icon, chart and CAPTCHA, with code examples and a test routine.
• WCAG 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide Explained in Plain EnglishWCAG 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide explained simply: what moving and auto-updating content needs, the 5-second rule, carousel fixes and how to test your pages.
• Free Tools to Check Website Accessibility: 6 Best Options ComparedCompare the best free tools to check website accessibility: AccessBell, WAVE, axe DevTools, Accessibility Insights, Lighthouse and ANDI, and when to use each.
• WCAG Success Criteria LibraryLook up any criterion the scan flags, in plain language.

Joomla WCAG 2.1 Checker: Frequently Asked Questions