WordPress Accessibility Checklist for Hungarian SMBs

Why This Matters for Your WordPress Site

WordPress powers over 40% of websites globally, and many small Hungarian businesses build on it because it's affordable and straightforward. But WordPress themes and plugins often ship with accessibility gaps — missing alt text on images, poor color contrast, unlabeled form fields — that silently exclude people with disabilities from using your site. The EU Accessibility Act (EAA) enforcement begins June 28, 2025, and inaccessible websites expose your business to legal risk and customer loss.

This checklist focuses on six real, fixable issues your WordPress site likely has right now. Each one takes minutes to address once you know where to look.

Enforcement in Hungary

Hungary's accessibility law (Act XVII of 2022) splits enforcement across several authorities depending on what you run — for a typical WordPress business site, that's the national consumer-protection authority, which covers e-commerce and general online services. Larger sectors (payment terminals, telecoms hardware, financial services) have their own separate regulators.

Hungary stands out from every other EU country we've researched for one reason: it's the only one with real revenue-based penalty tiering written directly into the law. Smaller businesses face fines up to 500,000 HUF (roughly €1,250). But operators with more than 100 million HUF in annual revenue can be fined up to 5% of that revenue, capped at 500 million HUF (roughly €1.25 million) — a genuinely serious number, and a structure no other country in this research uses.

The standard EAA microenterprise exemption applies (under 10 employees, under €2 million turnover) — Hungary hasn't added anything extra on top of it. As of our research, we couldn't find any documented investigation, warning, or fine actually issued under this law yet — enforcement here appears to be at an earlier stage than in France, the Netherlands, Sweden, or Germany.

Image Alt Text

Every image that carries meaning needs a short description in its alt text field. Screenshots of products, logos, charts, diagrams — all need alt text so screen reader users understand what they're seeing.

How to check on WordPress: Go to Media Library, click each image, and look at the "Alt Text" field on the right. If it's empty and the image isn't purely decorative, it needs text. For decorative images (like background patterns), leave alt text blank and WordPress will hide them from screen readers automatically.

How to fix: Write 1–8 words describing what the image shows. For a product photo, write "Blue ceramic coffee mug, 350ml." For a team photo, write "Management team standing in office lobby." Avoid "image of" or "photo of" — screen readers already know it's an image.

Color Contrast

Light gray text on white, or dark text on a slightly darker background, is hard to read for anyone with low vision, color blindness, or viewing your site on a phone in bright sunlight.

How to check on WordPress: Use the free browser tool WAVE (wave.webaim.org) or axe DevTools (chrome or firefox extension). Run it on your WordPress site and look for "Contrast" warnings. Pay special attention to buttons, links, and body text.

How to fix: Test your colors at WebAIM Contrast Checker (webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/). Aim for a ratio of at least 4.5:1 for regular text (that's roughly "light enough to read easily"). Dark text on light background, or light text on dark background, usually passes. If a theme color is too light, darken it slightly in WordPress Customizer or your theme settings.

Form Labels

Contact forms, newsletter sign-ups, and login fields all need visible labels so users know what each box is for. Screen readers announce the label before the input field, but unlabeled fields leave screen reader users guessing.

How to check on WordPress: Look at every form on your site (contact form, search box, login, newsletter signup). Does each input field have a text label next to it? If a field has only a placeholder ("Enter your email…") and no label, it's missing accessibility.

How to fix: If you use a plugin like WPForms, Gravity Forms, or Elementor forms, open the form editor and ensure every field has a "Label" set (not just placeholder text). The label should be visible above or beside the field. In code-based forms, add `<label for="fieldname">Field Name</label>` before each input.

Link Names and Descriptions

Links must have readable text that says where they go or what happens when clicked. Links that only contain an icon ("→" or an arrow image), or links with no text at all, don't tell users (or screen readers) what they lead to.

How to check on WordPress: Scan your pages for standalone icon links or image-only links. Try opening Developer Tools (F12), search for `<a>` tags, and look for ones with no text inside. Use WAVE to find "Empty Link" warnings.

How to fix: For icon-only links (like a "next post" arrow), either add visible text ("Next Post") or add hidden screen-reader text using `aria-label="Next Post"`. For image links, ensure the image has alt text that describes the link. If you use a page builder like Elementor, most link buttons have a text field — make sure it's filled.

HTML Language Declaration

Your WordPress theme's `<html>` tag should declare your site's language so screen readers pronounce words correctly and search engines know who to serve your site to.

How to check on WordPress: Go to Settings → General in WordPress admin. Check the "Site Language" field. If it says "English" and your site is in Hungarian, this is wrong. Also, View Source (Ctrl+U) and look at the very first line — it should show `<html lang="hu">` for Hungarian, not `<html>` or `<html lang="en">`.

How to fix: In WordPress Settings → General, change Site Language to "Magyar" (Hungarian). WordPress will update the html tag automatically. If it doesn't, contact your theme or hosting support — some themes override this setting.

Button Names and Labels

Buttons need clear text describing what they do. A button with only an icon, or an empty button element, leaves screen reader users unable to understand what will happen when they click it.

How to check on WordPress: Find all buttons on your site (Submit, Download, Buy Now, search buttons, menu toggles). Does each one have visible text or a hidden label? Use WAVE to find "Button with no name" warnings.

How to fix: If a button shows only an icon (like a magnifying glass for search or a menu hamburger), add visible text inside it if space allows ("Search" or "Menu"). If space is tight, add `aria-label="Search"` to the button code. In page builders like Elementor or Divi, most buttons have a text field — fill it. Test on mobile to confirm the label fits.

Next Steps

Start with one issue — often image alt text, since WordPress makes it easy to spot and fix. Use WAVE or axe DevTools to scan your site and see which problems are most common. Fix the highest-impact issues first (forms and navigation), then work through images and colors. Document what you fix so new team members know the standard. Accessibility isn't a one-time project; it's part of how you maintain WordPress.

This is technical WCAG guidance, not legal advice.