WordPress Accessibility Team Meeting Notes – June 2026

The bi‑weekly Accessibility Team meeting covered several key items for the upcoming WordPress 7.1 release. The WordPress 7.1 roadmap was published, outlining new features and accessibility goals for the next release cycle. The Contributor Dashboard received new views and a custom ladder, while the WP A11y Docs were updated for June 2026. The team debated the use of pure white and pure black text, noting that WCAG 3 and the Accessible Perceptual Contrast Algorithm (APCA) suggest off‑white and off‑black may be preferable for users with vision impairments. Gutenberg work focused on bringing the admin bar to both Gutenberg and classic admin screens, with progress on Icon, Playlist, and Tabs blocks, but the Table of Contents block remains stalled. Accessibility reviews are still required for lightbox captions, the client‑side media experience, and the media editor modal.

Theme accessibility reviews were discussed, with the deadline for "accessibility‑ready" reviews extended to clear a backlog of over 100 themes, 79 of which still await initial review or re‑testing. The team also considered hosting another live theme review and Q&A session to help contributors.

The meeting emphasized that accessibility testing continues throughout the release cycle, even after features are committed, to catch issues before the final release.