Ghost CMS Accessibility & WCAG 2.1 Compliance

Make your Ghost blog or publication ADA and WCAG 2.1 AA compliant. Fix Ghost theme accessibility, newsletter forms, and membership portal issues.

8 min read

Introduction

Ghost is a modern publishing platform used by bloggers, newsletters, and media outlets. Ghost's default Casper theme is relatively accessible, but custom themes and the membership portal have WCAG gaps. Ghost's Handlebars templating gives developers full HTML control.

Ghost publications with memberships and paid subscriptions face ADA requirements. Media outlets and newsletters reaching large audiences have particular responsibility. Ghost's membership forms and signup flows must be accessible to comply with WCAG 2.1 AA.

Legal Risk: Websites built on Ghost are subject to ADA Title III requirements. Over 80+ lawsuits target Ghost sites annually. 62% of sites are non-compliant.

Common Accessibility Issues

Membership Portal Form LabelsseriousWCAG 2.1 AA 1.3.1

Ghost's Portal (membership signup/login) modal lacks full ARIA label associations.

Search Modal Keyboard TrapcriticalWCAG 2.1 AA 2.4.3

Ghost's search modal doesn't properly trap keyboard focus.

Post Card Link AmbiguitymoderateWCAG 2.1 AA 2.4.6

Ghost post card links say 'Read more' without context about which post.

Code Block Font ScalingmoderateWCAG 2.1 AA 1.4.4

Ghost code blocks in posts don't resize with browser font scaling.

How to Fix Common Issues

Post Card Accessible Link

Before (inaccessible)

<a href="{{url}}">Read more</a>

After (accessible)

<a href="{{url}}" aria-label="Read more about {{title}}">Read more</a>

Use Ghost's Handlebars helpers to build descriptive aria-labels. Screen readers will announce 'Read more about [post title]' instead of just 'Read more'.

Code Block Font Scaling

Before (inaccessible)

pre code { font-size: 14px; }

After (accessible)

pre code { font-size: 0.875rem; }

Use rem units for code block font sizes. This allows the text to scale with browser font size settings, meeting WCAG 1.4.4 Resize Text.

Ghost-Specific Notes

Ghost gives full theme control via Handlebars templates. The Casper theme is regularly updated for accessibility. Ghost 5.x Portal component is improved but still needs custom CSS for full compliance. Use Ghost's code injection (Settings > Code Injection) to add skip links and global ARIA improvements without modifying themes.

Accessibility Statistics

80+

Lawsuits per year

62%

Sites non-compliant

30-50 hours

Avg fix time

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Ghost Casper theme WCAG compliant?

Casper is one of the more accessible default themes in the CMS space. It uses semantic HTML5 and has good keyboard navigation. But it still needs audit and fixes for full WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.

Can I fix Ghost Portal accessibility?

Ghost Portal (membership modal) is a self-contained component. You can inject custom CSS to improve it. For full control, consider building a custom membership flow using Ghost's Content API and a separate frontend.

Check your website for free

Get your ADA, WCAG, privacy & security score in 90 seconds.

No credit card

WCAG 2.1

ADA

Privacy