WordPress 6.0 Closer To WCAG 2.0 AA compliance

WordPress 6.0 features numerous accessibility improvements that bring it closer to WCAG 2.0 AA compliance. WordPress announced the version release on May 24, 2022, with inclusiveness and accessibility as a core goal, making it easier for users to publish content regardless of device and maintain a website or application.

Accessibility Improvements in WordPress 6.0

WordPress

1. Alt Text used on the featured image: It will use the post title as the alt text when a featured image is linked to the post.
2. Improvements to Tabbing into a block placeholder as requested by the GitHub pull: This makes the placeholder controls keyboard accessible when the “Contain text cursor inside block” preference is enabled. Tab allowed into placeholder controls during edit mode when focussed on a block with a placeholder.
3. Screen Reader Related Improvements: Making it easier for publishers who use screen readers to navigate through the blocks and get things done. Ensure that blocks with placeholder setup have their description ready by VoiceOver, giving context for the block itself and the resulting controls.
4. Search Results in Block Manager
5. Improve successful Draft save notification for screen readers by making it more descriptive as Draft saved instead of just Saved.
6. Add button text labels to the site editor to show text labels instead of icons on interface buttons.
7. Avoid duplicate labels for the “Save Draft” and “Save as pending” buttons to reduce confusion.
8. RichText: Reverse disable line breaks to determine the aria-multiline state.
9. Remove role attributes on SVGs meant for “decoration.” It is about adding a role=”img” tag without adding an aria-label to SVGs. 
10. Improvements to the Navigation Block
11. Improvements to WordPress List View: improved the ability to select specific blocks, improved aria labels, and improved keyboard controls and announcements.
12. Screenshot of List View Toggle Button
13. Improvements to Handling Media: “Preserve attachment properties on cropping custom logo. It means that the alternative text, title, description, and caption of an image will migrate over to the cropped copy of the image after cropping.
14. Stop arrow keys switching media if URL focused.
15. Add a “Copy URL to clipboard” function to the list table view. Set break-word on sample permalink so the full permalink will be visible on mobile devices in posts, media, and comments.
16. Remove target blank attribute target=”_blank” from media uploader edit links to change permalink structures and change the link text to clarify link purpose.
17. Improves screen reader and keyboard functionality in the Quick/Bulk editing, fixes issues with the login and registration buttons to add autocomplete values but in a way that doesn’t represent a security issue since the values are stored in the browser.
18. Miscellaneous accessibility improvements to official WordPress themes: “Twenty Nineteen: Override flex order in the comment form. Transform search into a dialog role and fix the handling of aria-expanded to synchronize mobile and desktop buttons.
19. Twenty Twenty-One: Reverse logic for prefers-reduced-motion media query.
20. When hovering over the theme details button, use the pointer cursor for consistency with the theme card.