Theme check
Is Phlox accessible?
No automated check can say that a theme is accessible. Here is what one found: on October 25, 2026, our check of Phlox 2.17.22 on its WordPress.org preview found 10 accessibility problems in the theme's own parts (its header, menus, footer and layout), 2 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 | 2 | 1.4.3 | No, needs a person |
| Page regions that cannot be told apart | Moderate | 2 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
| Heading levels skip | Moderate | 1 | 1.3.1 | No, needs a person |
| Main area inside another region | Moderate | 1 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
| More than one page header | Moderate | 1 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
| More than one main area | Moderate | 1 | Best practice | No, needs a person |
| Zoom is blocked on phones | Moderate | 1 | 1.4.4 | Yes |
| 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. Phlox may have changed since October 25, 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.
- 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.
- Heading levels skip. Choose heading levels by structure, not by size: one level 1 for the page title, level 2 for sections, level 3 inside them. Change the size with styling instead.
- Main area inside another region. The <main> element should not be inside another landmark.
- More than one page header. Keep one site header (<header> at page level). Use a <div> for other header-like areas.
- More than one main area. A page should have exactly one <main>.
- Zoom is blocked on phones. Fixlight fixes this automatically by removing user-scalable=no and maximum-scale from the viewport tag.
- 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 zoom is blocked on phones on its own, in the HTML the site sends, with no widget. The rest (text with too little contrast, page regions that cannot be told apart, heading levels skip, main area inside another region, more than one page header, more than one main area, content outside the page regions) need a change in the theme's settings or code.
About Phlox
- By averta, 30,000+ active installs on WordPress.org (number 59 by installs when we checked).
- Version checked: 2.17.22. Preview: wp-themes.com/phlox/.
- Theme author? If you've fixed these, write to fixlight@fernwaylabs.com and we'll check again.