Fixlight facts
The short version, kept up to date: what Fixlight is, what it fixes, what it doesn't do, and what it costs.
| What it is | A free WordPress plugin that finds accessibility problems on your site and fixes the safe ones in your site's own HTML as pages are sent. |
|---|---|
| Made by | Fernway Labs |
| Where to get it | WordPress.org |
| Price | The plugin is free, with no account and no page limits. Fixlight Pro: Agency (25 client sites): $249 a month or $2,490 a year; Store (1 site): $59 a month or $590 a year; Site (1 site): $12 a month or $120 a year. |
| What visitors load | No widget, toolbar or script. Fixes are in the HTML; a few use a little CSS. |
| Requires | WordPress 6.5 or later, PHP 7.4 or later |
| Works with | Any theme. Extra fixes for Divi (4 and 5), Extra, Bloom and Monarch. |
The fixes (17)
Each fix has its own switch, and turning one off undoes it at once. Your posts and theme files are never edited.
- Page language. Adds the site language to pages that do not declare one, so screen readers pronounce the text correctly. An existing language (for example from WPML or Polylang) is never changed.
- Missing page titles. Fills an empty or missing <title> with the WordPress page title. The title is the first thing a screen reader announces.
- Skip to content link. Adds a "Skip to content" link that appears when a keyboard user presses Tab, so they do not have to tab through the whole menu on every page. Skipped when the theme already has one.
- Visible keyboard focus. Shows a clear outline around the link or button that has keyboard focus. Many themes remove it, which leaves keyboard users lost. Mouse clicks do not show the outline.
- Image alt text from the media library. When an image in a post has no alt text but the same image has alt text in the media library, uses the library text. Tracking pixels and spacer images are marked as decorative so screen readers skip them.
- Titles for embedded content. Gives embedded videos, maps and other iframes a title such as "YouTube video", so screen reader users know what the frame contains.
- Form field labels. When a form field has placeholder text but no label, uses the placeholder as its accessible label. Fields without a placeholder are listed for you to fix.
- Labels for icon links and buttons. Names links and buttons that show only an icon, such as social media icons or a search button, using the link address or the icon name. Icons it cannot identify are listed for you to fix.
- Descriptive "Read more" links. Adds the post title to "Read more", "Continue reading" and similar links that point to a post, so they make sense out of context ("Read more: Spring opening hours"). The visible text does not change.
- Keyboard order. Removes positive tabindex values, which make the Tab key jump around the page in an unexpected order.
- New tab warnings. Tells screen reader users when a link opens in a new tab, and adds rel="noopener" to those links for security.
- PDF link warnings. Tells screen reader users when a link opens a PDF document instead of a web page.
- Allow zoom on phones. Removes settings that stop visitors from zooming the page on a phone. People with low vision rely on zoom.
- Controls on autoplaying video. Adds play/pause controls to videos and audio that start on their own, and mutes autoplaying video, so visitors can stop them.
- Underline links in text (off until you turn it on). Underlines links inside paragraphs and lists, so people who cannot tell colours apart can still see them. Buttons and menus are not changed. Off by default because it changes how your theme looks.
- Fixes for your theme and plugins. Fixes problems in themes and plugins whose markup Fixlight knows: Divi, Extra, Bloom and Monarch so far. For example, it makes Divi's mobile menu, search icon and toggles work with the keyboard, opens submenus on keyboard focus and names social icons. It runs only when one of them is active.
- Respect "reduce motion". For visitors who turned on "reduce motion" in their phone or computer settings, stops animations and smooth scrolling that can cause dizziness.
The checks
Fixlight checks your pages in your browser and on your server, then lists what's left, why it matters to someone using a screen reader or a keyboard, and how to fix it.
What Fixlight doesn't do
- It adds no accessibility toolbar or overlay for visitors.
- It doesn't change your colours, write captions, or fix PDFs and custom widgets it doesn't know. It lists what it finds for a person to fix.
- No tool can make a site fully accessible or "compliant" with a law on its own. Fixlight doesn't claim to.
Fixlight Pro
For agencies and stores: hosted checks in a real browser every week and after updates, keyboard tests of checkouts and forms, monthly reports in your brand, and hand-fixes from our team. See Fixlight Pro.