Accessibility Scanner

Description

The Accessibility Scanner gives content teams an automated way to validate pages meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards before they are published — directly inside the dotCMS Visual Editor.

Built on the Axe JavaScript library, the scanner is powered by dotCMS's Node.js serverless function infrastructure. When triggered, it fetches the fully rendered HTML of a page — the same output that a browser and assistive technologies receive — and runs a comprehensive WCAG 2.1 AA audit. Results appear in the Page Health panel, organized by severity (critical, serious, moderate, and minor), with a plain-English description of each violation and specific guidance for fixing it.

For compliance-led organizations, the scanner can be configured to block publishing when critical violations are present, enforcing accessibility standards as a first-class part of the editorial workflow. WCAG 2.1 AA compliance satisfies the accessibility requirements of the ADA (United States), AODA (Canada), and the European Accessibility Act (EU).

Benefits

For Content & Marketing Teams

• Catch accessibility violations before publish rather than during external audits or after a complaint is filed.

• Receive plain-English remediation guidance for each issue — no accessibility expertise required to understand or act on the findings.

• Build confidence that published content meets regulatory requirements without relying on a separate tool or specialist review for every page.

For DevOps & Platform Teams

• Run bulk accessibility audits across content to identify systemic compliance gaps and prioritize remediation at scale.

• Configure publish-blocking on critical violations to enforce accessibility standards automatically, reducing the risk of non-compliant content reaching production.

• Monitor compliance continuously rather than relying on periodic external assessments.

For Compliance & Legal Teams

• Demonstrate WCAG 2.1 AA adherence with pre-publish scan records — supporting documentation for ADA, AODA, and EAA compliance reporting.

• Reduce exposure to accessibility litigation by catching the structural errors — missing alt text, low-contrast text, unlabeled form fields — that represent the majority of accessibility lawsuits and demand letters.

• Support government contract requirements and public sector procurement criteria that mandate WCAG compliance.

Use Cases

Pre-Publish Compliance Check A content editor at a government agency saves a new page in UVE and triggers an accessibility scan. The scanner identifies two critical violations — images missing alt text and form fields without labels — and surfaces specific remediation steps. The editor resolves both before publishing, keeping the page within WCAG 2.1 AA compliance without involving a developer or specialist.

Publish Gate for Compliance-Critical Content A healthcare organization configures the Accessibility Scanner to block publishing when critical WCAG violations are present. Any page with a critical violation requires remediation before it can go live, ensuring that patient-facing content consistently meets HHS Section 504 requirements without relying on manual review processes.

Site-Wide Compliance Audit A DevOps team at a financial services firm runs accessibility scans across a large content library to identify the most common violation types — for example, widespread low-contrast text or missing document language declarations — and produces a prioritized remediation plan tied to WCAG success criteria.

New Editor Onboarding A digital team uses the Accessibility Scanner as a training tool for new content contributors. Editors scan pages they have drafted, review the violations and remediation guidance, and develop an understanding of accessible content practices through direct feedback on their own work — reducing recurring errors over time.

Resources

• Feature Blog Post

• Feature Intro Video