Theme check
Is Magazine Lume accessible?
No automated check can say that a theme is accessible. Here is what one found: on October 28, 2026, our check of Magazine Lume 1.4.4 on its WordPress.org preview found 14 accessibility problems in the theme's own parts (its header, menus, footer and layout), 10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text with too little contrast | Serious | 9 | 1.4.3 | No, needs a person |
| Links with no text | Serious | 1 | 2.4.4 | Yes |
| Main area inside another region | Moderate | 1 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
| More than one main area | Moderate | 1 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
| Page regions that cannot be told apart | Moderate | 1 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
| Content outside the page regions | Moderate | 1 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
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. Magazine Lume may have changed since October 28, 2026.
How to fix them
- Text with too little contrast. Make the text darker or the background lighter until the contrast ratio is at least 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text). Change it in your theme's colour settings so it applies everywhere.
- 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.
- Main area inside another region. The <main> element should not be inside another landmark.
- More than one main area. A page should have exactly one <main>.
- Page regions that cannot be told apart. When two regions of the same kind exist (two navigation menus, for example), give each a different aria-label.
- 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.
What the free Fixlight plugin does here
Of these, the free plugin fixes links with no text on its own, in the HTML the site sends, with no widget. The rest (text with too little contrast, main area inside another region, more than one main area, page regions that cannot be told apart, content outside the page regions) need a change in the theme's settings or code.
About Magazine Lume
- By wpHoot, 400+ active installs on WordPress.org (number 421 by installs when we checked).
- Version checked: 1.4.4. Preview: wp-themes.com/magazine-lume/.
- Theme author? If you've fixed these, write to fixlight@fernwaylabs.com and we'll check again.