Open Accessibility
An open-source accessibility widget that helps make your WordPress site more accessible to users with disabilities.
Solid choice
Open Accessibility is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 50+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 75/100 on our health check.
- Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)
- Small user base (50+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Open Accessibility stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| accessibility | #30 |
| ada | #37 |
| disability | #16 |
| readable | #12 |
| wcag | #68 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
About Open Accessibility
From the official readme · v1.4.0Description
Open Accessibility is a comprehensive accessibility solution that helps your website comply with WCAG 2.1 standards and improve usability for people with disabilities.
The plugin adds a customizable accessibility widget to your website that gives users control over how they experience your content, with features like:
- High contrast mode
- Text size adjustment
- Adjustable letter spacing
- Adjustable word spacing
- Grayscale filter
- Reading guide
- Readable fonts
- Link underlining
- Focus indicators
- Line height adjustment
- Animation control
- And more!
Key Features
- Skip to Content Link: Allows keyboard users to bypass navigation menus
- Contrast Modes: Multiple contrast options including high contrast, negative contrast, light, and dark backgrounds
- Text Adjustments: Increase text size, line height, letter spacing, word spacing, and enable readable fonts
- Navigation Aids: Reading guide, focus outlines, and link underlining
- Visual Accommodations: Grayscale mode, hide images, and pause animations
- Accessibility Statement: Built-in generator for creating accessibility statements
- User Preferences: Settings are saved between visits
- Fully Customizable: Admins can control appearance, position, and enabled features
- Lightweight: Minimal impact on page load times
- WCAG 2.1 Compliant: Helps sites meet accessibility guidelines
Benefits
- Improves usability for people with disabilities
- Helps meet legal accessibility requirements
- Enhances user engagement by making your site more accessible
- Shows your commitment to inclusivity
Important Note
While this plugin helps improve your website’s accessibility, it does not guarantee full compliance with all accessibility standards and regulations. Regular accessibility audits and testing with real users are recommended.
Credits
This plugin utilizes the following fonts under their respective open licenses:
* Atkinson Hyperlegible: Copyright (c) 2020, Braille Institute of America, Inc. (https://brailleinstitute.org/freefont) – SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1
* OpenDyslexic: Copyright (c) 2011, Abelardo Gonzalez (https://opendyslexic.org/) – Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
This plugin was developed to help make the web more accessible to people with disabilities.
Installation
- Upload the
open-accessibilityfolder to the/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Go to the ‘Accessibility’ menu in your admin panel to configure settings
Frequently asked questions
Will this plugin make my site fully WCAG compliant?
This plugin helps improve accessibility and addresses many WCAG criteria, but complete compliance requires a comprehensive approach that includes proper content structure, image alt text, semantic HTML, and more. We recommend using this plugin as part of your accessibility strategy, not as a complete solution.
Where will the accessibility widget appear?
You can choose from four positions: left side, right side, bottom left, or bottom right of the screen. You can also customize the size and appearance of the widget.
Can I place the widget somewhere specific, like my site header?
Yes. Use the [open_accessibility] shortcode in your content, a block, or a template file (e.g. ). By default the panel automatically opens toward the side of the screen with the most room, so a toggle placed in your header opens downward and a toggle near the footer opens upward. You can also force a placement with the direction and align attributes: [open_accessibility direction="down" align="right"] direction accepts `auto` (default), `up`, or `down`. `align` accepts `auto` (default), `left` (panel extends to the right of the button), or `right` (panel extends to the left of the button).
Can users hide the widget if they don’t need it?
Yes, there’s a “Hide Accessibility Panel” option in the widget that allows users to hide it. It will remain hidden for 24 hours.
Can I generate an accessibility statement for my website?
Yes, the plugin includes a built-in accessibility statement generator that creates a statement based on your organization details.
Does this plugin slow down my website?
The plugin is designed to be lightweight and only loads what’s necessary. The impact on page load times should be minimal.
Can users save their accessibility preferences?
Yes, all user preferences are saved using local storage in their browser, so settings persist between visits.
Will this plugin work in a multisite environment?
Yes, this plugin is compatible with multisite installations.
Can my theme fine-tune which content gets accessibility adjustments?
Yes. Open Accessibility exposes a shared targeting layer that themes can adjust with PHP filters, HTML attributes, and a small JavaScript API. Typography controls use these targets, and the same resolver also supports links, media, interactive controls, and opt-in layout relief. Example PHP filters: add_filter( 'open_accessibility_target_roots', function( $roots ) { $roots[] = '.my-theme-article-body'; return $roots; } ); add_filter( 'open_accessibility_target_excluded_selectors', function( $selectors ) { $selectors[] = '.my-theme-sidebar'; $selectors[] = '.promo-card'; return $selectors; }…
Is there a frontend JavaScript API?
Yes. The plugin exposes window.OpenAccessibility after the widget initializes: window.OpenAccessibility.refresh(); window.OpenAccessibility.getState(); window.OpenAccessibility.setState({ textSize: 2 }); window.OpenAccessibility.getTargets('readable_text'); window.OpenAccessibility.debug(); window.OpenAccessibility.debug() returns current state and target diagnostics. Frontend selector diagnostics are available from the console and API when the plugin debug option is enabled, or when a developer enables them in the browser with `localStorage.setItem('openAccessibilityDebug', '1')`. It also…
How do I enable debug logging?
To see debug messages from this plugin, you need to do two things: 1. Enable the “Enable Debugging” option in the plugin’s settings page (under the ‘Accessibility’ menu). 2. Ensure that WordPress’s core debugging constants are enabled in your wp-config.php file. Specifically, WP_DEBUG must be set to true, and WP_DEBUG_LOG must also be set to true. Logs will then appear in the /wp-content/debug.log file. Frontend selector diagnostics are browser-side diagnostics. Use window.OpenAccessibility.debug() or the browser console for those; they are not written to WordPress debug.log.
Changelog
This update fixes widget positioning issues when contrast modes are enabled and improves code quality.
1.4.0
- Verified compatibility with WordPress 7.1 on PHP 8.4 and PHP 8.5
- Add a Links settings tab with optional Help and Feedback links in the widget panel
- Expose the Sitemap link in the settings UI
- Add a Panel Title setting to rename the widget heading
- Add an
open_accessibility_stringsfilter so any widget label can be overridden - Add an
open_accessibility_panel_titlefilter and anopen_accessibility_panel_linksfilter - Add an opt-in “Open Links in Same Tab” setting that strips
target="_blank"(WCAG 2.1 SC 3.2.5) - Add an opt-in, off-by-default Usage Logging setting; feature usage is now recorded only when enabled
- Fix the skip-to-content link doing nothing on themes without an
#contentelement, including all block themes and Kadence - Skip-to-content now moves keyboard focus to the target rather than only scrolling to it (WCAG 2.1 SC 2.4.1)
- Add an
open_accessibility_skip_target_candidatesfilter to control where skip-to-content lands - Tested against Hello Elementor, Astra, GeneratePress, OceanWP, Kadence, and Twenty Twenty-Five
1.3.02
- Fix shortcode-embedded widget panel opening offscreen when the toggle is placed near the top or right edge of the page (e.g. in a site header)
- Panel placement for shortcode embeds now adapts to available viewport space, and its height is capped so it scrolls instead of overflowing
- Add
direction(auto/up/down) andalign(auto/left/right) shortcode attributes to control which way the panel opens - Fix shortcode-embedded widget panel being invisible on small screens; it now uses the same full-screen panel as the standard widget
- Add a shared frontend targeting resolver for typography, links, media, and layout-sensitive controls
- Add theme integration filters, HTML attributes, lifecycle events, and
window.OpenAccessibilityhelpers - Scope readable fonts, link underlining, hide-images, and grayscale controls to resolved content targets
- Improve widget ARIA state syncing for expanded panels, toggle buttons, and live indicators
- Harden saved and public API state so malformed values are normalized before applying settings
- Honor intentionally empty target config arrays while preserving built-in widget and explicit ignore exclusions
1.3.01
- Make typography controls adapt to theme-defined line height, spacing, and font sizing instead of overriding whole-page styles
- Scope text size, line height, spacing, and alignment controls to readable content areas
- Add theme filters and element opt-outs for typography targeting
1.2.76
- Fix analytics stats and cleanup queries when the stats table is missing or outdated
- Preserve accessibility statement cleanup during uninstall
1.2.75
- Accessibility widget can now be placed with a shortcode
1.2.74
- Add visual indication of scale level for text size, letter spacing, word spacing and line height
For developers
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Best Open Accessibility alternatives
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FAQ
Open Accessibility: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 5, 2026
Is Open Accessibility free?
Yes. Open Accessibility is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Open Accessibility safe to use in 2026?
Open Accessibility is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 50+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 75/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Open Accessibility?
Open Accessibility is active on 50+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 1,801 times since it launched in April 2025. It was downloaded 130 times in the last 30 days.
Does Open Accessibility work with WordPress 7.1?
Yes. The developer has tested Open Accessibility up to WordPress 7.1.2, the latest release. It requires WordPress 5.2 or newer.
What PHP version does Open Accessibility need?
Open Accessibility requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Open Accessibility last updated?
The latest version, 1.4.0, was released on August 22, 2026 (1 month ago).
Who makes Open Accessibility?
Open Accessibility is developed and maintained by Adam Greenwell.
What are the best alternatives to Open Accessibility?
The most popular alternatives to Open Accessibility are Web Accessibility (formally… (500K+ installs), Auto Image Attributes From… (100K+ installs) and Accessibility by UserWay (80K+ installs).
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