Magento accessibility
Make your Magento store truly accessible. EAA & WCAG, without an overlay
Adobe Commerce is powerful, but not accessible by default: the Knockout.js frontend and the Luma theme introduce silent barriers in your checkout and navigation. We find them and deliver the fix in your own .phtml templates, no widget that slows your site down.
This is how Seviranta tackles your Magento site at the source
Where the barriers hide
Themes, extensions and forms introduce silent barriers. We find every one of them.
The fix in the source, not on top of it
Concrete repairs in your theme and templates, not an overlay layer that only hides the errors.
No widget, no slowdown
We crawl externally from EU servers, 0% impact on your load speed and Core Web Vitals.
Ready for the EAA
We test your site against WCAG, at the level that regulators test at.
Headless scan on axe-core, the same engine that powers Google Lighthouse, from our EU servers. 0% impact on your loading speed.
The truth: Magento is not accessible by default
The default Magento frontend leans on a heavy, dated Knockout.js layer and the Luma theme. In many installs the checkout loads forms in dynamically without a screen reader catching the switch, and Luma falls below the contrast threshold in several places. Those are barriers your customers, and the European Accessibility Act, won't accept.
What's really at stake
- An inaccessible checkout is a direct EAA violation.
- An accessibility widget doesn't count as a structural fix.
- Regulators test the generated HTML, including your apps.
- 'We use Magento' is not a legal defence: responsibility sits with the live webshop, not the platform.
What waiting can cost you
up to € 1,000,000
EU maximum · Spain/Luxembourg
$ 4,000
US · California (Unruh), per visit
You won't be fined out of the blue, first comes a remediation order with a deadline. But whoever can show a dated record at that moment walks away cheapest.
See what applies to your target market →The hidden risk of third-party Magento extensions
Review widgets, filters, bundlers and search apps inject dynamic HTML into your frontend, and every app update can add a new barrier. In an audit that code counts in full, even though you did not write it yourself. That is why Seviranta continuously monitors the end result the way a regulator sees it: your Magento theme plus all apps and dynamic content.
What commonly goes wrong on Magento
- Knockout.js checkout without a live regionThe default checkout flow loads steps and forms in dynamically through Knockout.js. Without a live region or focus move, a screen reader never catches the transition and the user is left on the old step.
- Mini-cart without focus managementThe mini-cart at the top of the Luma theme expands without putting focus inside it or holding it. Keyboard and screen-reader users have no idea the panel is open.
- Luma theme with low contrastThe Luma theme uses light-grey text and buttons in many spots that drop below the WCAG 2.2 AA contrast threshold, hard to read for low-vision visitors.
- Layered navigation without aria-expandedThe layered navigation filters expand and collapse without aria-expanded, so a screen reader never announces whether a filter group is open or closed.
What a real fix looks like
Take the mini-cart at the top of your Luma theme. When it expands, focus doesn't move with it, so a screen-reader user misses the content. The fix lives in the theme's .phtml template, no rebuild:
<div class="minicart-wrapper">
<!-- inhoud verschijnt zonder focus -->
</div><div class="minicart-wrapper"
role="dialog"
aria-label="<?= $block->escapeHtmlAttr(__('Winkelwagen')) ?>"
tabindex="-1">
<!-- zet focus hierheen bij openen -->
</div>Where you fix it inside Magento
Adobe explicitly places the responsibility for accessibility with the merchant. This is where Magento 2 typically goes wrong and at which layer you fix it.
- 1Know what Adobe itself reportsAdobe's own Accessibility Conformance Report for Adobe Commerce tests Luma per WCAG criterion and reports, among other things, icons without a text alternative, a checkout heading structure that does not match, a skip link with too little contrast and main navigation that cannot be activated with the keyboard. The newer Edge Delivery storefront (2025 report) scores 'does not support' on info and relationships, non-text contrast and status messages. Stock Luma is not a safe baseline.
- 2Templates: override in your theme, not in coreMarkup errors (missing labels, wrong ARIA roles in the menu, buttons rendered as <a> without href) are fixed by copying the .phtml template to app/design/frontend/<Vendor>/<theme>/<Module>/templates/ and repairing it there. Template path hints in the admin show which file renders a block.
- 3Layout XML and Knockout templatesWhat is not in a .phtml often lives in a UI component: the minicart, checkout and layered navigation render via Knockout .html templates declared in the jsLayout (for example Magento_Checkout/minicart/content). Focus management and live regions go there; blocks are moved or replaced with <referenceBlock> in your theme's layout XML.
- 4JavaScript via mixinsBehaviour (moving focus when the minicart opens, updating aria-expanded on filters) is changed with a RequireJS mixin in requirejs-config.js, without overwriting core files. That way the fix survives a Magento upgrade.
- 5Alt text and language in the adminAlt text per product image lives in the admin under Images and Videos → Alt Text, per store view. The lang attribute is derived from the store locale automatically, but as a language code only; make sure every store view has the right locale. Marketplace extensions inject their own blocks via layout XML; they are your responsibility and are included in our scan.
Hyvä claims a frontend built to WCAG 2.1 AA, but adds itself that the theme is only part of a store. Extensions, content and custom work decide the end result; that is why we scan the published page.
What you get
Per issue: what, why and how
For every finding you see what's wrong, who it affects, which WCAG rule applies and a concrete, Magento-aware fix, with a code example where possible.
Platform-specific detection
You catch the errors that arise specifically on Magento, not just what a generic WCAG check picks up.
A record that holds up
A dated overview of your scans and findings that you can show at an audit or inspection.
With a reporting tool you pay the licence and your developers to fix the issues. With Seviranta the fix is included, no double bill.
Protect your conversion and your legal standing
An app that slaps an accessibility icon over your Magento site is a risk to your business. The facts:
Magento accessibility widgets
- Load extra external scripts that hurt your load speed (LCP) and therefore your conversion.
- Mask the issue instead of fixing it, the underlying code stays broken.
- Don't protect you from claims. The FTC fined overlay vendor accessiBe $1 million in 2025 for misleading compliance claims.
The Seviranta approach
- 0% impact on your load speed, we scan externally from our EU servers.
- We fix the real source code of your Magento templates.
- We automatically compile your EAA dossier, ready to keep on record and show a regulator.
Questions and answers
- Is Hyvä or PWA Studio accessible out of the box?
- Hyvä implements WCAG 2.1 AA features since version 1.3.0 according to its own docs, and itself recommends testing with axe and keyboard only. Adobe's report for Venia (PWA Studio) tests per criterion and claims no conformance. A good base theme helps; extensions, content and custom work decide the rest.
- I sell from the EU to the US or the UK as well. What applies there?
- In the US, ADA Title III has no federal technical standard but massive private litigation: over 2,400 federal website cases in 2024 (Seyfarth) and, per UsableNet, more than 4,000 digital cases, 77% against e-commerce, over a thousand of them against sites with a widget. In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 imposes an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments, with no cap on damages. WCAG is the yardstick in all three markets.
- My store runs an older Magento 2.3 or 2.4.x. Is that a problem?
- No. We test the published HTML, regardless of version or theme. Fixes are delivered at template, layout or JavaScript level so your developer applies them in the theme and they survive an upgrade.
- Is a Magento accessibility widget enough for the EAA?
- No. A widget puts a layer over your site, but doesn't repair the underlying code and doesn't count as structural compliance.
- Does my Magento checkout fall under the EAA?
- Yes. The checkout and navigation are explicitly part of the obligation under WCAG 2.1 AA.
- Does Seviranta also scan my Magento apps?
- Yes. We test the final generated HTML, theme plus apps, the way a regulator does.
- Will this slow my Magento site down?
- No. We scan externally from our EU servers; no script goes on your site. 0% impact on your load speed and Core Web Vitals.
We do it ourselves too
We hold ourselves to exactly the same standard: our own site scores 0 errors in axe-core, the same engine that powers Google Lighthouse and that we also use to scan your Magento shop. What a machine establishes with certainty we resolve by machine, the rest is judged by a person. This is how sharp you get it from us: see a real example report.
What the EAA asks of your Magento store
Since June 2025 your webshop must meet WCAG 2.1 AA, a Magento store is no exception. The free scan shows in 60 seconds where you stand, with the exact line that fails.
Selling in more than one country?
WCAG is the global standard. Almost every market builds on it:
Fix your Magento store once to WCAG and you cover the technical bar across all those markets. What differs per market is the enforcer and the fines.
See what applies per target market →Manage several Magento sites for clients?
Stop the stores you ship from becoming an EAA liability for your clients. Use Seviranta as your automated quality stamp on every handover and deploy, one scan, and every site is demonstrably in order.
See our partner programme →Other platforms
Scan your Magento store free
Paste your Magento URL into the free scan and see within a minute which lines fail, with the exact spot in your theme.