Built around WCAG success criterion 1.1.1, the image rule behind ADA Title II, Section 508 and the European Accessibility Act.
Filikod is a free WordPress accessibility plugin with one job: helping the images in your media library meet WCAG success criterion 1.1.1, which WCAG 2.2 kept unchanged. It audits the alt text of your whole library, flags missing, generic, too short, too long and duplicated descriptions, lets you mark decorative images and fix the rest in bulk. It does not touch contrast, keyboard navigation or forms: those need testing and theme work.
These laws differ, but for images they all come back to WCAG success criterion 1.1.1: a text alternative. Here is who each rule covers and from when.
| Rule | Who it covers | Technical standard | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| WCAG 2.2 W3C | Nobody directly. The laws below cite WCAG 2.0 or 2.1; 2.2 is the current W3C version and the basis of EN 301 549 v4.1.1. | Criterion 1.1.1 is word for word the same as in WCAG 2.1 and 2.0. | W3C Recommendation since October 5, 2023, current edition December 2024 |
| ADA Title II US Department of Justice rule, 2024 | Websites and apps of state and local governments: cities, counties, public schools and universities, transit agencies. | WCAG 2.1 level AA | April 26, 2027 for entities serving 50,000 people or more, April 26, 2028 for smaller ones and special districts (interim rule of April 20, 2026; a revision is planned, no date yet) |
| ADA Title III US | Businesses open to the public. Courts disagree on whether an online-only business is covered. | No technical rule. The 2022 Justice Department guidance cites WCAG as helpful guidance. | Applies now: 3,117 federal website accessibility lawsuits were filed in 2025 (Seyfarth Shaw) |
| Section 508 US federal | Federal agencies and the technology they build, buy, maintain or use. | WCAG 2.0 level AA | Since January 18, 2018 |
| European Accessibility Act EU directive 2019/882 | Businesses selling covered products and services to EU consumers: e-commerce, consumer banking, transport, e-books, electronic communications. Microenterprises are exempt for services. | EN 301 549 v3.2.1, which points to WCAG 2.1 level AA. Version 4.1.1 (WCAG 2.2) was published in September 2026 and is not yet the legal reference | Since June 28, 2025, with transition periods up to 2030 for some services |
| RGAA 4.1.2 France | French public bodies and some large companies. | Built on WCAG 2.1; theme 1 “Images” holds criteria 1.1 to 1.9 | In force; version 5 is being drafted |
An overlay adds a toolbar on top of your pages. It does not know why an image is on your page: if the alt text is missing in your HTML, no widget can write the right one for you, and automatic guesses rarely fit the context.
In April 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission finalized an order requiring accessiBe to pay $1 million over claims that its overlay could make any website compliant with WCAG.
The durable fix happens in the content itself: real alternatives, decorative images marked as such, a library kept clean over time. That is the layer Filikod works on, and no image ever leaves your server.
Success criterion 1.1.1 (level A) asks for a text alternative that serves the same purpose as the image. WCAG 2.2 did not change a word of it. In practice, most images fall into one of three cases.
They carry meaning. The alt text says what the image tells the reader in this context. Our examples page shows what good looks like.
A linked logo, an icon button. The alt names the destination or the action: “Filikod home” beats “blue logo”.
Pure decoration gets an intentionally empty alt (alt="") so screen readers skip it. Our guide to the empty alt attribute in WordPress explains when that is right and when it is an error.
EAA applicable in the EU since June 28
ADA Title II deadline for large US public entities, April 26
WCAG 2.1 level required by ADA Title II and EN 301 549 v3.2.1
of the top million home pages have images without alt text (WebAIM, 2026)
Filikod checks the alt text of every image in your media library and sorts it: missing, generic, too short, too long, duplicated or decorative. You fix them from one list instead of opening attachments one by one (see bulk editing alt text). Featured images and builder widgets that read the library update at once. Images already placed with the Image block keep their own copy of the alt, so update those posts too.
The ALT Quality Score, from 0 to 100, gives you a number to track over time and share with your team or client. On the 134 pages tested with our free checker, the average is 67.6 (see our benchmark).
What it does not do: color contrast, keyboard navigation, forms, video captions. Check those with WAVE or axe plus a keyboard test, then fix them in your theme, forms and videos.
Pick by layer. A content fix such as Filikod changes what screen readers actually receive for your images, for free. A testing tool such as WAVE or axe flags part of what else fails; a keyboard test catches more. Theme work handles contrast, focus and keyboard. An overlay on its own leaves your content as it is.
Most laws cite WCAG 2.1 level AA today: ADA Title II and, for the European Accessibility Act, EN 301 549 v3.2.1. Section 508 still cites WCAG 2.0. EN 301 549 v4.1.1, published in September 2026, adopts WCAG 2.2 and becomes the EAA reference once the EU cites it in its Official Journal. Meeting 2.2 AA covers 2.1 AA in practice: 2.2 adds nine criteria (six at levels A and AA) and drops 4.1.1 Parsing as obsolete. For images, nothing changes: criterion 1.1.1 is identical.
If the site belongs to a US state or local government body (city, county, public school, university, transit agency), yes: WCAG 2.1 level AA by April 26, 2027 for entities serving 50,000 people or more, April 26, 2028 for smaller ones. Those dates come from an interim rule of April 2026 and may still move. Private businesses fall under Title III, which has no technical rule but is enforced through lawsuits.
It has applied since June 28, 2025 to businesses that sell covered products or services to consumers in the EU, online stores included. Microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees and no more than €2 million in annual revenue or balance sheet total) are exempt for services. If EU consumers can buy from your site, assume it applies and check with a lawyer.
No plugin can. Filikod handles the image side of criterion 1.1.1 for the images in your media library. Missing alt text is one of the most common failures on the web (WebAIM Million) and one of the easiest to fix in bulk. WCAG 2.2 counts 55 success criteria at levels A and AA; the rest needs testing and theme work.
Give them an empty alt (alt=””), which tells screen readers to skip them. In Filikod you switch them to Decorative from the audit list: they keep the empty alt and are left out of the score. Our guide to missing and empty alt attributes explains when an empty alt is right and when it is an error.
The full FAQ covers the checker, the score, the plugin and how your data is handled.
Install Filikod to audit your whole media library and get a score you can track. Want to test one page first? The free alt text checker works before you install anything, and our guide shows how to check if an image has alt text by hand.
