Dismissing and Reopening Accessibility Issues

Sometimes, Accessibility Checker will flag issues that aren’t actually problems or are intended as reminders that manual testing is needed. In these cases, you can dismiss the problem or issue needing review to stop it from counting against the page’s passed tests percentage and to mark it as reviewed.

Terminology Note as we transition between versions:  

• Problems may also sometimes be referred to as “Errors.”
• Issues needing review may also be sometimes referred to as “Warnings.”
• The dismiss issue feature may also sometimes be referred to as an “Ignore.”

Dismissing Issues Needing Review in Accessibility Checker

The issue type that you will most commonly use the dismiss feature for in Accessibility Checker is those marked as needing review. These are issues we have flagged that require manual review to determine whether an accessibility problem is present, as there is no way to determine this programmatically for these elements.

As noted in our help article on how to manually check your website for accessibility, most Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) success criteria require some degree of manual review.

After an issue flagged for review has been reviewed and it is determined that no accessibility problem is present (or any identified accessibility problems have been resolved), the way to indicate that it has been checked is to dismiss it. See the directions below for how to dismiss an issue in Accessibility Checker.

Examples of things that trigger an issue needing review are links to PDF files, the presence of a slider or video, images with empty alt text, or paragraph text that we think might need to be formatted as a header instead of a paragraph. Here is a full list of needs review checks.

Examples of Issues You Might Dismiss

Here are two examples of accessibility problems you might see in Accessibility Checker and may need to dismiss:

Example 1: Image empty alternative text (needs review check)

Alternative text, often called alt text, is a short written description of an image. It is used to inform screen reader users of an image’s contents. It may also display on a web page if an image does not load.

However, for decorative images, such as borders or small color swatches, alternative text is not necessary, and it is correct to leave the image’s alt attribute empty so that the screen reader will skip it and not announce its presence.

Below is a screenshot that shows two different images on a page about ice cream sundaes. There is a heading, “Ice Cream Sundaes,” followed by an image that looks like triangle bunting running across the page. Below the bunting image is a photograph of an ice cream sundae with hot fudge, sprinkles, and a cherry on top.

In this example, we have drawn an arrow pointing to the bunting graphic to highlight that it is decorative.

Decorative images don’t convey meaning or add real value to someone’s understanding of the content on a page, whereas other images do. The photograph of the sundae helps illustrate what a sundae is for those who don’t know, or, if this were a restaurant website, what to expect when ordering a sundae. In this way, the photograph adds value to the page that the bunting image does not. If this were your website, you would want to add alt text to the sundae photograph but not to the bunting image.

As smart as Accessibility Checker is, it has no way of knowing what is in your image and if it adds meaning to the content on the page. Because of this, Accessibility Checker will flag every image that has an empty alternative text attribute as needing review.

Once you have determined that the image is decorative, you will want to dismiss the specific code for the bunting image so that it no longer counts against your passed accessibility checks score or shows as an open issue in your reports.

Example 2: Missing transcript (problem)

An example of a possible false positive that Accessibility Checker might flag is a Missing Transcript problem. A Missing Transcript problem will appear if you have a media file (either video or audio) either linked to or embedded on the page.

Transcripts are required for all videos and audio files with speaking, however, Accessibility Checker has no way of knowing if your video or audio file contains words.

If your audio file, for example, is an instrumental song with no singing or spoken words, or if you have a video embedded that is purely a slideshow without words, then a transcript is not needed. In these cases, you would include a written description of the media for people who are deaf or deaf and blind, and you would dismiss the Missing Transcript problem because it is not applicable to your particular media file.

Dismissing an issue in Accessibility Checker

How to dismiss in the post or page editor

To dismiss an accessibility issue, follow these steps:

1. Open the Accessibility Checker sidebar in the editor.
2. Click on Problems or Needs Review to view identified issues.
3. Expand the issue title accordion to see the issues.
4. Click on the issue number to open the issue details modal
   
   OR click the button to expand the issue actions menu, then click dismiss issue.
   
5. In the issue modal, expand the “dismiss issue” accordion if it is not already expanded.
6. Choose a reason for dismissing the issue. Options are:
   • False positive: The scanner flagged this, but it does not apply to this content.
   • Remediated: The issue has been fixed, but the page has not been rescanned yet.
   • Confirmed accessible: Reviewed and verified to meet accessibility requirements.
7. Write a comment if desired.
8. Click the “Dismiss Issue” button.

How the Dismiss Issue settings look:

Tip: If there are a multiple of the same issue on a page that you need to dismiss more quickly (e.g. a page with 25 embedded videos, all of which you already tested and know are accessible but are flagged as needing review), you can use the “…” quick-action menu next to each individual issue ID to quickly jump to the “Dismiss Issue” form.

How to dismiss issues globally (Pro)

In Accessibility Checker Pro, you can dismiss issues globally from inside the Fast Track report. This ensures that a specific issue will not reappear in reports across the entire website. When an issue is globally dismissed, it will be removed from reports for all current and future pages.

To create a global ignore:

1. Go to Accessibility Checker > Open Issues in your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Click on the Fast Track tab.
   
3. Find the code snippet that matches the issue you want to dismiss.
4. Click Review Issues in the Actions column. This will expand the group to review all identified issues for that code snippet.
5. Click “Global Dismissal” in the Action column for the Check you want to dismiss.
   

Note: For an issue to be dismissed globally, the affected code must be identical and flagged for the exact same checks across multiple pages or posts.

See our Getting Started Quick Guide for more details about the Fast Track report.

What happens after dismissing an issue?

When an issue is dismissed, Accessibility Checker stores:

• the date and time of dismissal
• the dismissal reason
• any comments
• the username of the person who dismissed it

This provides a record for larger teams working collaboratively to remediate a website and enables administrative oversight.

After dismissing an issue, the counts on the summary tab will update automatically to include that issue in the dismissed issue count and remove it from problems or needs review counts as applicable.

How to View Dismissed Issues

Viewing dismissed issues in the editor

Dismissed issues remain visible in their own dedicated area in the post editor so that details can be reviewed at a later date, as needed.

To view dismissed issues in the post editor:

1. Open the Accessibility Checker sidebar.
2. Expand the Dismissed Issues accordion.
3. Click on the Problems or Needs Review tab as applicable to view issues that have been dismissed by type.

Viewing site-wide dismissed issues (Pro)

In Accessibility Checker Pro, dismissed issues from across the entire website can be viewed in a Dismissed Issues report. This can be found in the WordPress admin under Accessibility Checker > Dismissed Issues.

The Dismissed Issues report is similar to the Open Issues report. It shows the count of issues dismissed by check. When you open any individual check, you can see the issues that were dismissed, who dismissed them, when they were dismissed, and any comments provided.

This is a great way to see, at a glance, what issues have been dismissed on the website and by whom. It also allows for easy reopening of issues that were incorrectly dismissed.

Reopening Dismissed Issues

If you have incorrectly dismissed an issue that still needs review or is actually an accessibility problem that needs to be fixed, you can reopen it.

Reopen an issue in the post editor

To reopen an issue in the editor:

1. Open the Accessibility Checker sidebar.
2. Expand the Dismissed Issues accordion.
3. Click on the Problems or Needs Review tab as applicable to view issues that have been dismissed by type.
4. Click on the issue title to open the issue modal.
5. Expand the issue dismissed accordion. This accordion will include the reason in the accordion heading.
6. Click the Reopen Issue button.

Reopen an issue from the Dismissed Issues Report (Pro)

You can also reverse dismissals from inside the Dismissed Issues report in Accessibility Checker Pro.

1. Go to Accessibility Checker > Dismissed Issues.
2. Click on the title of the check for the issue you want to reopen.
3. Find the issue by searching, filtering, or sorting the table as needed.
4. In the Actions column of the table, click the “Dismissed” button to expand the dismissed details.
5. Click the “Reopen Issue” button.

Note: if you reopen a globally ignored issue in this view, it will only reopen that particular instance of the issue. To reopen an issue globally, go to Fast Track.

Reopen a global ignore (Pro)

To reopen a global ignore, follow these steps:

1. Go to Accessibility Checker > Dismissed Issues.
2. Click the Global Dismissals Tab.
3. Find the code snippet of the issue you globally ignored.
4. Click “Review Issues” to expand the details for the code snippet.
5. In the Action column for the Issue you want to reopen, click “Stop Global Dismissal”.