Wave Access

The handbook for the accessibility plugin: from installation and widget customization to audit reports, the accessibility statement and AI tools. All settings live in WordPress under Settings → Accessibility.

Installation

1. Upload the plugin ZIP under Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin — or copy the wave-access folder to /wp-content/plugins/.
2. Activate the plugin in the plugin list. You'll find a direct Settings link right there.
3. Done — the assistive widget appears in the bottom-right corner of your site immediately. All core fixes (skip links, focus indicator, ARIA landmarks) are active out of the box.

Activate your license Pro

You'll find your license key in your order e-mail and in your account.

1. Open Settings → Accessibility → License.
2. Enter the key (format WAVE-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) and click Activate.
3. Your plan (Pro, Pro AI or Agency) is displayed and all included features unlock — one key for everything, including the AI features.

Agency licenses can be activated on up to 25 websites; the License tab and your account show which sites are in use. “Detach license from this website” frees up a seat — handy when moving client projects.

Widget: visitor features

The widget offers visitors ten display modes and four sliders — all preferences are stored in the visitor's browser for 30 days (no tracking, nothing sent to any server):

In the Widget tab you can disable feature groups individually (e.g. grayscale, contrast modes, font sliders, link underlining) to keep the panel lean.

Floating button

Everything lives under Widget → Floating button:

You can also disable the button entirely and place the panel yourself — see Embedding.

Appearance & theme

Design coupling via CSS variables

For developers: instead of fixed colors you can hook the widget into your theme's CSS custom properties. It then follows every design change automatically — dark mode included.

Accent color

In the accent color field, simply enter the variable instead of a hex value:

var(--primary)   or short:   --primary

Panel background and text color

Set the panel theme to Custom variables and enter the variable names your theme defines, e.g.:

:root { --site-bg: #ffffff; --site-text: #1d1d1f; }
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root { --site-bg: #1c1b22; --site-text: #f4f4f5; }
}

The widget adopts background: var(--site-bg) and color: var(--site-text) and derives all secondary colors (tile backgrounds, dividers, borders) automatically via color-mix(). If your site switches to dark mode via media query or class, the widget follows without any extra configuration.

Gutenberg block

Search the block editor for “Accessibility panel” (Widgets category). The block renders the same panel as the floating button — ideal for footers, popups or a dedicated accessibility page. Title, title visibility and reset button are configured in the block sidebar.

Shortcode

The panel anywhere you like — including theme files via do_shortcode():

[wave_access]

[wave_access title="Need help?" show_title="1" show_reset="0"]

Elementor

If Elementor is active, the widget “Wave Access – Accessibility” automatically appears in the Elementor panel (General category, keywords “accessibility”, “a11y”). Drag & drop it anywhere; title, title visibility and reset button are set directly in the widget options.

WPBakery

If WPBakery (Visual Composer) is active, you'll find the element “Wave Access – Accessibility” in the element catalog under Content — with the same three options as block and shortcode.

Accessibility statement Pro

The Statement tab generates a complete accessibility statement according to the European Accessibility Act as a WordPress page:

1. Enter organisation, contact e-mail and optionally a phone number.
2. Choose the compliance status — partially conformant is the usual, honest state.
3. Add known limitations (e.g. “Older PDF documents are not yet accessible”).
4. Pick a language — all 29 plugin languages are available (German and English editorially maintained, more to follow).
5. Create page — the statement is published as a page; on changes just save again and the page is updated.

Audit report & PDF

The Audit tab bundles three tools:

• Overview — statistics on images without alt text, checklist progress and overall status. This is also where you generate the PDF audit report Pro: a print-optimised documentation of your efforts (summary, active measures, full checklist, image list) that you save as PDF via the print dialog.
• Image analysis — a detailed list of all images without alt text, with preview, usage locations and a direct edit link. Free shows the first 50 images; Pro audits without limits and exports to CSV.
• WCAG checklist — 27 criteria based on WCAG 2.1 AA in five categories, with progress bar and save function. Your self-assessment feeds into the PDF report.

AI features Pro AI

The AI features run on Wave Tools servers in Germany and unlock through your license. Quotas per plan: see Plans.

Automatic alt texts

• On upload: the “Generate alt texts on upload” switch — new images are described asynchronously.
• Backfill your library: “Scan media library” counts images without alt text, “Generate now” works through them with a progress bar. Existing alt texts are never touched.
• Language: follows the site language, adjustable in the AI tab.

Easy language & AI read-aloud

Both are part of the Pro AI plan and unlock automatically through your license as soon as they become available for your account — the AI tab shows the status.

Backend options

Plans at a glance

Pricing and checkout: wavetools.io/#pricing · Management: Account

Support

Questions, bugs, feature requests? Write to support@wavetools.io — Pro customers get priority. Please include your WordPress and plugin versions (see plugin list) and a short description of what you expected versus what you saw.