Lumtera Docs

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Installation ​

Requirements ​

  • WordPress 6.6 or later
  • PHP 8.1 or later, with the DOM extension (php-xml). Most hosts have it switched on. If yours doesn't, Lumtera shows a notice asking you to have your host enable it, and doesn't start.

Optional:

  • WordPress 6.9+ for the Abilities API, which lets AI assistants run Lumtera's checks.
  • WordPress 7.0+ and an AI provider connected under Settings → Connectors for AI suggestions: alt text, link text, headings and plain-language summaries.

Install the free plugin ​

  1. In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New.
  2. Search for Lumtera. Click Install Now, then Activate.

Or upload the zip: Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose lumtera.zip, then Install Now and Activate.

Lumtera needs no account and no API key. Everything runs inside your own WordPress.

Our promises ​

  • No account.
  • Nothing leaves your site unless you turn on your own AI provider or the Akismet spam check for the feedback form.
  • No overlay: nothing is added for visitors unless you add it.
  • Every fix is shown before it is saved, and can be undone.
  • No nags: nothing pops up by itself. Pro appears in the menu, on preview screens and an Upgrade button, as at most one short Pro tip on a screen, which you can dismiss, and as one line in the optional weekly email, which you can leave out.
  • Every check in this plugin, and fixing issues one at a time, stays free.

The five Pro preview screens in the Lumtera menu (Page checks under Checks, Fixes queue under Fixes, Reports and Evidence under Reports, and Portfolio) are there only while Lumtera Pro isn't installed. They describe what each Pro feature does, without prices, and they disappear once Pro is active. See Your WordPress admin.

Your first check ​

After you activate it, a notice says "Lumtera is ready." on the Dashboard and Plugins screens, until you run your first check or dismiss it.

  1. Click Check my site, or go to Lumtera → Overview.
  2. Click Check all content. Lumtera checks your posts, pages and products, and your site parts such as menus and template parts, in small batches on your own server. Keep the tab open until it finishes. You can carry on working in another tab. If the check stops, the Overview offers Continue where it stopped.
  3. When it's done, the progress bar says what was found, for example "Done — 6 items checked: 2 errors on 2 items, 5 to review.", with See what to fix, which takes you to the items that need attention. The Overview's numbers update in place: your average score, errors, items that need review, your coverage and the most common issues. See Site report.

From now on, content is checked again each time it's saved, so you don't need to re-run the full check.

The Overview also shows Get set up, one step at a time: check your content, try review mode and get the weekly email. See Quick start.

What automated checks cover ​

With review mode's whole-page checks, Lumtera's automated checks cover 38 of 55 WCAG 2.2 A and AA criteria (1 fully, 37 in part). The checks of saved content alone cover 26 of 55. Covering a criterion means a check looks at it, not that your site meets it. The rest need a person: the guided checklists walk you through them. The Overview shows your own site's number, worked out from the checks you have switched on. See What automated testing can't do.

Check a post as you write ​

Open any post in the block editor and click the Lumtera icon in the top toolbar. The Lumtera Accessibility sidebar lists every issue in the post, with a fix for each one. See Block editor sidebar.

Check a whole page ​

View any page of your site while logged in (a post or page you can edit, or, if you can see Lumtera's reports, the blog home page, an archive, search results or the shop) and choose Accessibility in the admin bar. Review mode checks the page as rendered, theme included, and can walk it with the keyboard.

Add Lumtera Pro (optional) ​

Lumtera Pro is a separate add-on plugin. Keep the free plugin active, then upload and activate lumtera-pro.zip and enter your license key. Lumtera Pro 1.2.0 needs Lumtera 1.2.1 or newer, and 1.3.0 is recommended: with an older version, Pro shows "Lumtera Pro needs Lumtera 1.2.1 or newer. Please update Lumtera." and stays off until you update. See Install Lumtera Pro.

Multisite ​

Lumtera can be network-activated or activated per site. Each site keeps its own settings and results, and each site's administrators choose what happens to its data when Lumtera is deleted. Super admins can set network defaults that new sites follow. With Lumtera Pro on the Agency or Unlimited plan, a network overview, settings sync and one network license are added. See Multisite network.

Uninstalling ​

Deactivating Lumtera removes nothing. When you delete it, Lumtera keeps your results, settings and feedback messages by default, so installing it again picks them up. The Plugins screen shows Data is kept if deleted under Lumtera. To remove everything instead, choose Delete everything under Lumtera → Settings → General → When Lumtera is deleted, where you can also download every feedback message as CSV first. Any accessibility statement page you created is always kept. See Settings and Data & uninstall.