Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker – WCAG, ADA, EAA and Section 508 compliance

2026-08-19 – version 1.48.0
* Added – a new Permissions settings tab that lets administrators control which roles can dismiss issues, view audit history, export data, run full-site scans, and view the frontend highlighter.
* Added – individual capabilities for dismissing issues (own vs. any), viewing audit history, exporting data, running full-site scans, and viewing the frontend highlighter, replacing the previous all-or-nothing Pro toggle.
* Fix – large-batch dismiss actions no longer leak across accessibility rules that share the same object.
* Fix – the Taxonomy Scanning setting now points at the option the scanner actually reads.
* Fix – the readability check now uses the correct Flesch-Kincaid grade 9 threshold.
* Fix – Query Monitor’s fallback debug output is no longer scanned and reported as false-positive accessibility issues.

2026-07-14 – version 1.47.0
* Updated – the frontend highlighter now draws a white ring around the outline so highlighted elements stay visible on any background color.
* Updated – the empty alt text check no longer flags 1×1 tracking pixels.
* Updated – the link protocol checks now handle href values that contain leading whitespace.
* Updated – SVG code snippets in the Accessibility Analysis panel are now rendered as images instead of raw markup.
* Fix – scan results for the homepage are now stored against the homepage instead of the first blog post when the site is set to show latest posts.
* Fix – the Simplified Summary text areas in the editor sidebar now have a label that assistive technology can announce.
* Fix – corrected a caching issue that could cause database table name lookups to return the wrong table.
* Remove – deleted an unused internal helper function.

2026-07-08 – version 1.46.0
* Updated – the aria-hidden rule no longer flags core Cover blocks.
* Updated – the Incorrect Heading Order summary no longer claims specific heading levels that may not match the actual issue.
* Updated – more strings translated into other languages.
* Fix – .ogg audio files are no longer treated as video content by the video checks.
* Fix – reading level grades between 0 and 1 are now rounded up to grade 1 instead of being treated as not calculable.
* Fix – Accessibility Analysis panel now shows a success icon when no issues are found.
* Fix – Reading Level summary card now conveys its status to screen readers.
* Fix – corrected the accessible name on the settings page navigation landmark.
* Fix – settings page logo now displays correctly on right-to-left site languages.

2026-06-30 – version 1.45.0
* Updated – default dismiss reasons are now reordered so first item is confirmed accessible.
* New – added filter edac_dismiss_reasons to allow adding or removing dismiss reasons.
* Fix – keep focus well positioned when clearing dismiss notice.

2026-06-23 – version 1.44.1
* Updated – improved the dismiss panel screen reader announcements.

2026-06-22 – version 1.44.0
* New – Added custom axe rule to detect links whose anchor text is a bare URL rather than meaningful text.
* Updated – The aria-hidden rule no longer flags separator blocks.
* Updated – Empty paragraph warnings no longer flag elements with aria-live attributes or implicit live region roles.
* Updated – Block Editor metabox now defaults to visible for new installs.
* Fix – REST API URL generation now works correctly on subsites and with custom REST base configurations.
* Fix – New window warning now handles links containing both text and images.

2026-05-28 – version 1.43.0
* Updated – improved empty alt warnings for images that are inside buttons with accessible names.
* Updated – improved empty button checks for elements hidden from screen readers and keyboard users.
* Updated – more strings translated into other languages.
* Updated – hardened the dismiss issue REST endpoints against edge cases.

2026-05-20 – version 1.42.1
* Updated – improved permission handling for the ignore feature.

2026-05-18 – version 1.42.0
* Updated – add support for role=”none” in several of the link and image alt related rules.
* Updated – added support for named anchors as jump links.
* New – added system info checker for compatibility checking of plugins and themes.

2026-05-13 – version 1.41.0
* Updated – the possible heading rule now accounts for elements with role=”heading” appropriately.
* Fix – several language translations are now properly detected by WordPress when using them.
* Fix – harden the frontend highlighter scanner against caching when updated.
* Fix – email report checks now defer to the pro plugin when installed to avoid conflicts.
* Fix – Text size too small check no longer produces false positives on screen-reader-only (visually hidden) elements.

2026-04-21 – version 1.40.0
* New – Screen reader only text format support in the Block Editor and frontend.
* New – Email reports opt-in added for site summaries.
* New – Frontend highlighter UI update and positioning options added.
* Fix – Article landmark labels now correctly display “Landmark: Article”.
* Changed – Missing Table Header checks now correctly skip tables marked with role=”presentation” or role=”none”.
* Changed – Table header detection now better handles colspan, rowspan, and ARIA header relationships.
* Changed – Orphaned issue cleanup now runs twice daily for fresher issue data.

2026-03-17 – version 1.39.0
* New – CSS modifier classes to opt out of the New Window Warning icon and tooltip.
* New – Setting to hide the legacy metabox in the Block Editor.
* New – Fix to allow empty search results to display a meaningful message instead of a 404.
* Fix – Orphaned settings labels on the options page.
* Fix – Issue modal content clipped when affected code contains long URLs.
* Fix – Undefined help_id notice in help link generation.
* Updated – Welcome dashboard UI updated to bring it in line with other UI changes.
* Updated – Made more strings translatable – particularly those returned by ajax.
* Enhanced – Missing transcript detection now searches 2 additional levels up.

2026-03-04 – version 1.38.0
* New – Block Editor Sidebar with accessibility scan data, issues, and quick access panel for faster navigation.
* New – Dismissed issues now have assignable reasons for the dismissal.
* New – Dismiss reason and severity now visible on issues (in both sidebar and classic metabox).
* New – Ability to reopen issues that were dismissed with one click from the sidebar.
* Updated – Classic Editor metabox visual design to match sidebar styling.
* Updated – Terminology: “Errors” now “Problems”.
* Updated – Terminology: “Warnings” now “Needs Review”.
* Updated – Terminology: “Ignore” now “Dismiss”.
* Updated – Terminology: “Passed Tests” now “Passed Checks”.
* Updated – in the sidebar contrast errors are now included in the “Problems” sections.
* Enhanced – Using both color and shape now indicate state of found issues and readability.
* Fix – Make sure that summary needed is flagged for above 9th grade. Some instances it could flag for summary at 9th.
* Fix – prevent welcome modal on the first visit from overriding other events on the page load.
* Fix – various type safety and existed checks in places to prevent edge case errors.

2026-01-23 – version 1.37.0
* Fix – Duplicate markup on the page can now be properly identified as an issue.
* Fix – Restrict global ignore management link and fix button label span closure.
* Fix – Update database schema to use selector as unique identifier for issues.
* Enhanced – Frontend issue matching with stable selectors and DOM ordering.
* Enhanced – Better handling of frontend highlighter positioning.
* Improved – More accurate restoration of styles after deactivating them in frontend highlighter.
* Improved – When closing frontend highlighter it won’t re-render unless needed.

2025-12-15 – version 1.36.0
* Fix – passed tests percentage logic now accounts times no posts are scanned
* Fix – don’t prevent scan speed saving when pro plugin is enabled.
* Add – new trigger for invalid alt text – “an image”.
* Add – allow role=”menuitem” with aria-expanded in link validation checks
* New – visit welcome screen on plugin activation.

Older versions can be found in the plugins changelog.txt.