Theme check
Is Avril accessible?
No automated check can say that a theme is accessible. Here is what one found: on October 28, 2026, our check of Avril 22.4 on its WordPress.org preview found 21 accessibility problems in the theme's own parts (its header, menus, footer and layout), 8 of them serious or critical.
We make Fixlight, a free WordPress plugin that fixes some of these problems, so we're not neutral. The measurements below are what our check found; anyone can repeat it with the same method.
What the check found
| Problem | Impact | Times | WCAG | Free Fixlight plugin fixes it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buttons with no text | Critical | 1 | 4.1.2 | Yes |
| Links with no text | Serious | 7 | 2.4.4 | Yes |
| Content outside the page regions | Moderate | 11 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
| Page has no main content region | Moderate | 1 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
| Empty headings | Minor | 1 | 1.3.1 | No, needs a person |
The check also found 64 problems inside the sample posts themselves (form fields without a label, drop-down lists with no label, content outside the page regions, heading levels skip). Those come from WordPress.org's sample content, which is the same for every theme, so they're not counted here.
How we checked: One page, the theme's home page on WordPress.org's preview (wp-themes.com), which shows the same sample posts for every theme. It was loaded in a real browser and checked with axe-core's WCAG 2.2 A and AA rules and its best practices. Problems inside the sample posts are not counted against the theme, except colour problems its styling causes. Automated checks find many problems, but not all of them. Your site, with your own content, settings and plugins, will give different results. Avril may have changed since October 28, 2026.
How to fix them
- Buttons with no text. Fixlight names common icon buttons automatically. For the rest, add an aria-label that says what the button does.
- Links with no text. Fixlight names social and common icon links automatically. For the rest, add alt text to the image inside the link or an aria-label to the link.
- Content outside the page regions. This usually comes from the theme or a page builder section. Put page content inside the main area, or ask your theme developer to add header, main and footer regions.
- Page has no main content region. Use a page template that wraps the content in a <main> element. Blank page builder templates often leave it out.
- Empty headings. Delete the empty heading block, or use spacing instead of an empty heading.
What the free Fixlight plugin does here
Of these, the free plugin fixes buttons with no text, links with no text on its own, in the HTML the site sends, with no widget. The rest (content outside the page regions, page has no main content region, empty headings) need a change in the theme's settings or code.
About Avril
- By Nayra Themes, 3,000+ active installs on WordPress.org (number 410 by installs when we checked).
- Version checked: 22.4. Preview: wp-themes.com/avril/.
- Theme author? If you've fixed these, write to fixlight@fernwaylabs.com and we'll check again.