// threshold — free wordpress plugin
Accessibility,
made honest.
Threshold audits your site, gives visitors preferences that genuinely change the page, and generates your Accessibility Statement. No overlay, no AI, no one-click compliance promise. It tells the truth about what passes and what doesn't.
//01 the stance
The accessibility market
is full of shortcuts.
Most tools promise instant compliance with one line of code. They're overlays: a layer dropped on top of the site that pretends to fix it. They don't fix anything — they mask. European courts have noticed: overlays increasingly show up inside the lawsuits, not as a defence against them.
- No overlayThreshold doesn't drop a layer over your site. The preferences it exposes change the page for real, at the root.
- No AINo black box guessing at fixes. A transparent analysis engine that tells you what's broken, why it matters, and how to repair it.
- No risky presetsNo automatic conformance claim. You declare the real level, after a real check. Declaring "fully compliant" without one is a legal risk, not a shield.
//02 the product
Honesty is the product.
An automated check can only verify part of the WCAG criteria. The rest — reading order, keyboard navigation, whether alt text actually means anything — takes a person. Most tools hide that line. Threshold puts it front and centre.
Automated check
86%
Share of automated checks passed, per page, with every issue broken down: what, why, how, where.
Manual check
required
Focus, screen reader, logical order: no scanner certifies these. They have to be checked by hand — and Threshold says so, instead of faking 100%.
That's the difference between a tool that covers you and one that exposes you: an overlay hands you a reassuring, false number; an honest audit hands you a to-do list and the truth to declare.
//01 audit
Checks, in the open
A server-side scan — or, if you prefer, in your own browser with the axe-core engine — listing every unmet WCAG 2.1 AA criterion, page by page, with the explanation and the fix.
//02 panel
Real preferences
Text size and spacing, contrast, link highlighting, pause motion, keyboard focus, bigger cursor. Every control maps to a WCAG criterion and genuinely acts on the page.
//03 statement
And the document you need
The Accessibility Statement, generated automatically, with the feedback mechanism for reporting barriers: two explicit EAA obligations for e-commerce, ready to use.
//03 try it
Not a screenshot.
The panel on the right is Threshold's real component. The controls actually change the text beside it. This is how it behaves on your clients' sites.
Sample content
An accessibility layer that respects the person.
Every preference is a choice made by the reader, not something imposed on them. Enlarge the text, raise the contrast, highlight the links: the page really changes, because accessibility isn't a badge to display — it's something people use.
No external service is contacted. No third-party fonts are loaded. Everything happens in the visitor's own browser.
Partial conformance · WCAG 2.1 AA
Reading
Threshold by DSGN
Go ahead: tap A+ or flip a switch. The real plugin also ships text spacing, negative colours, pause motion, bigger cursor and more — each one toggleable per site.
The audit dashboard, inside WordPress admin. No inflated score: the real level, issues ordered by severity, with the fix next to each one.
//04 the law
Why now.
Since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act has applied across all 27 member states. It isn't a future obligation any more: in 2026 enforcement started for real.
Among the obligations for e-commerce: a public accessibility statement and a channel for reporting barriers. Threshold generates both — here's how the document looks on the site.
It covers e-commerce
Any site selling to consumers in the EU is in scope, wherever it's based. Only microenterprises under 10 staff and €2M turnover are exempt.
Enforcement has started
The first rulings landed in 2026: a French court ordered a major retail chain to make its site and app accessible within six months, with a daily penalty. Authorities are active in the Netherlands and Germany too.
A statement is mandatory
The law requires a public accessibility statement and a way to report barriers. Threshold generates both — the bare minimum no overlay really gives you.
//05 why it's free
Baseline compliance should be within everyone's reach. That's why Threshold is free.
We believe accessibility isn't a premium feature to be sold at a premium price. It's a threshold every site should be able to cross. So the core tool is open source and free on WordPress.org — no hidden limits, no data collection.
Our idea of an interface starts from the person, not the checkbox: no automation deciding on your behalf, no black box guessing, no shortcuts that quietly move the risk onto you. Just clear tools that do what they say, and leave the reader in control of their own experience. Care, before compliance.
//06 who built it
Built by a studio that ships this every day.
DSGN is a creative and digital studio that since 2013 has designed and operated WordPress and WooCommerce platforms for structured organizations — Nexi, Armani, Sky, BTicino, Sisal. The SaaS eCommerce platform we built for Nexi alone powers over 1,000 merchants.
Threshold comes out of that same work. We know where accessibility actually breaks, because we meet it every day in real code — not in slides. We publish it for free so baseline compliance is a starting point for everyone, and we're here for whoever needs to go further: a full audit, with the manual review no scanner can do, and remediation handled by people.
- StudioDigital & creative, since 2013
- QualityISO 9001 certified — verifiable, not declared
- SpecialismEnterprise WordPress / WooCommerce engineering
- ScaleNexi XShop: 1,000+ active merchants
- StandardsWCAG 2.1 AA · EN 301 549 · EAA
- LicenceOpen source (GPL) · free on WordPress.org
Put an honest threshold on your site.
Install it in two minutes from the official WordPress directory. Free, no account, no overlay.