WordPress plugin

Quick start guide

Get the AccessYes accessibility widget configured in minutes. Covers the essential settings every site owner should review after installation.

Updated

In this article: The essential settings to review after installing AccessYes. Covers widget position, appearance, and the accessibility statement — the three areas most site owners customise first.

AccessYes works immediately after installation with sensible defaults. The widget appears on your site, all tools are enabled, and visitors can start using it straight away. But a few minutes spent on the settings screen will make the widget feel native to your site rather than generic.

This guide walks you through the key decisions. For a full reference of every option, see Plugin Settings Reference.

Step 1: Open the settings screen

In your WordPress admin, click AccessYes in the left-hand menu. The settings screen is a single-page app split into sections: Appearance, Features, Language, and Accessibility Statement.

All changes save automatically as you make them. There is no save button to click.

Step 2: Position the widget

The first thing to decide is where the widget button sits on your pages. Go to the Appearance section and look for Widget position.

You can set a different position for desktop and mobile independently:

  • Bottom-right (default) — works for most sites
  • Bottom-left — better if another chat widget or cookie banner already sits in the bottom-right
  • Top-left or Top-right — less common, but available if your layout requires it
Tip

If you use a cookie consent banner (such as CookieYes), check whether it occupies the bottom-right corner on mobile. A clash between the two buttons creates a poor first impression — move the accessibility widget to the bottom-left on mobile to keep both visible.

You can also adjust the margin from each edge in pixels. The default is 20px. Increase this if the widget overlaps other fixed elements like sticky footers or chat launchers.

Step 3: Match the widget to your brand

Still in the Appearance section:

Colour: Change the widget button colour to match your site’s primary colour. Enter any hex value. The default is #1863DC (AccessYes brand blue), which works on most sites but may clash with certain colour schemes.

Button size: The default is 48px. This is large enough to be easily tapped on mobile. Reduce it only if space is genuinely tight — smaller buttons are harder to activate for users with motor impairments.

Button label: The button’s accessible label defaults to “Accessibility widget”. This text is read by screen readers but not visible on the button itself. It’s already descriptive, so you only need to change it if your site is in a language other than English and you’re not using the language feature (covered in step 5).

Step 4: Review enabled features

Go to the Features section. Every tool is enabled by default. If your site has a strong, specific design and you’re concerned that some tools (such as font changes or colour overrides) could break your layout, you can disable individual features here.

Important

Disabling features reduces the number of visitors the widget can help. Only turn off a tool if it causes a genuine technical conflict on your site. Hiding tools because they change your design is not recommended — accessibility needs vary widely, and a visitor who relies on high contrast or a large font should not be blocked from those tools.

For guidance on what each feature does, see the Features section of this documentation.

Step 5: Set the widget language

Go to the Language section. AccessYes supports 50+ languages.

By default, the widget language is auto-detected from your WordPress site language setting (Settings → General → Site Language). For a single-language site, you usually don’t need to change anything here.

If your site serves visitors in multiple languages, you can enable a language selector inside the widget. Turn on Allow visitors to switch language, then tick the languages you want to offer. Visitors will see a dropdown at the top of the widget menu.

Step 6: Add an accessibility statement (optional)

An accessibility statement is a page or document that describes your site’s conformance with accessibility standards such as WCAG 2.2. It is required by law for public sector websites in the UK and EU, and increasingly expected by organisations demonstrating good faith accessibility efforts.

Go to the Accessibility Statement section. You have two options:

  • Generate a statement — AccessYes includes a built-in generator. Enter your company name, website URL, email, and conformance status. The plugin creates a formatted statement you can publish.
  • Link to an existing statement — If you already have a statement on your site, paste the URL here and the widget will link to it.

Once a statement URL is saved, you can choose to display the statement directly inside the widget panel, or just show a link.

What’s next

Your widget is now configured and live. To go deeper on any area: