Chord theme: automated accessibility test

On September 29, 2026 the AccessifyAI scanner tested the official demo store of Chord 5.2.1 by ThemeGoal on 4 pages. It found 4 issue types (113 occurrences in total). For 9 of the 12 WCAG 2.2 criteria this index evaluates it found nothing.

Is Chord accessible?

An automated test cannot answer that on its own. What this one shows is 4 types of issues on the Chord demo store within the 12 criteria this index evaluates, listed below. The content, apps and settings of your store decide much of the result. Of the 55 WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA criteria, the scanner tests 15, this index reports 12, and the other 40 need a person to check them.

This is not a certification and not a legal assessment.

Test details

Developer: ThemeGoal
Price: $360 USD
Version tested: 5.2.1, released May 19, 2026
Style: Chord
Scan date: September 29, 2026
Demo store: chord-warm.myshopify.com
Theme Store: Theme Store page
Pages: Home page: tested, 69 findings
Collection page: tested, 25 findings
Product page: tested, 15 findings
Cart page: tested, 4 findings

What the test found

Image without an alt attribute

WCAG 2.2 1.1.1 Non-text content, Level A

94 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page

Why it matters for shoppers: A screen reader skips the image or reads out its file name, so a blind shopper does not learn what the product photo shows.
Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme: Product card and product media snippets, image banners, slideshow and image-with-text sections, and sometimes the logo in the header.
Direction for a fix: Output the alt text stored with the image, fall back to the product or section title, and give purely decorative images an empty alt="".
Examples from the demo store: img.Image--Blur
img

Link without a name

WCAG 2.2 2.4.4 Link purpose (in context), Level A

3 occurrences, found on: Home page

Why it matters for shoppers: A screen reader announces “link” and nothing else, so the shopper cannot tell where it leads.
Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme: Icon links in the header (account, cart), social media icons in the footer, image-only links on product cards and collection tiles.
Direction for a fix: Add visually hidden text or an aria-label to icon links, for example “Cart” or “Instagram”. For an image link, give the image an alt text.
Examples from the demo store: a.FeaturedColumnsCard__ImageWrapper

Heading levels skip a step

WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and relationships, Level A

2 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page

Why it matters for shoppers: People who move through a page by headings expect the levels to nest. A jump from h2 to h4 suggests a missing part.
Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme: Section headings, product card titles and footer column headings, where the level is chosen for its font size.
Direction for a fix: Choose heading levels from the structure of the page and set the size with a class.
Examples from the demo store: h1 → h3

Icon without a text alternative or a decorative mark

WCAG 2.2 1.1.1 Non-text content, Level A

14 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page

Why it matters for shoppers: If the icon carries meaning, such as a payment method or “free shipping”, a screen reader user misses it. If it is decoration, it should be hidden from screen readers.
Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme: Icon snippets, payment icons in the footer, trust and feature icons.
Direction for a fix: Hide decorative icons with aria-hidden="true". Give meaningful icons role="img" and an aria-label or a title element.
What the test can see: The test cannot tell a decorative icon from a meaningful one, so each of these needs a quick look.
Examples from the demo store: svg.Icon

Evaluated criteria without findings: 9 of 12

Without findings means the automated test found nothing for the criterion on these pages. Several of these criteria can only be tested in part by a machine.

1.4.2 Audio control (Level A)
1.4.4 Resize text (Level AA)
2.4.1 Bypass blocks (Level A)
2.4.2 Page titled (Level A)
2.4.3 Focus order (Level A)
3.1.1 Language of page (Level A)
3.2.1 On focus (Level A)
3.3.8 Accessible authentication (minimum) (Level AA)
4.1.2 Name, role, value (Level A)

Not evaluated in this index

1.4.3 Contrast (minimum) (Level AA): needs the rendered page with its stylesheets
2.4.11 Focus not obscured (minimum) (Level AA): needs the rendered page with its stylesheets
2.5.8 Target size (minimum) (Level AA): needs the rendered page with its stylesheets

Also noted, Level AAA

Level AAA goes beyond what EN 301 549, the standard behind the EAA and the BFSG, asks for. These points are listed for completeness and are not counted above.

Link opens a new tab without saying so (3.2.5 Change on request): 31
Link text such as “Read more” on its own (2.4.9 Link purpose (link only)): 1

What this result does not tell you

The scanner checks 15 of the 55 WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA success criteria, some of them only in part, and this index reports 12 of them. Keyboard use, focus visibility, captions, error messages and most of what makes a checkout usable need a person to check.
Contrast (minimum), focus not obscured and target size are not evaluated here: they need the rendered page with its stylesheets, and this test does not load stylesheets. Their findings are left out of every count on this page.
It tests the demo store as it was on the scan date: demo content, settings and apps included. A store built on the same theme can have more or fewer findings.
The scanner reads the HTML the server sends, without running scripts or loading external stylesheets. Content that scripts add after the page loads is not part of this test.
It is not a certification and not a legal assessment of the theme or of any store that uses it.

How we test

Data licence: CC BY 4.0. Attribution: AccessifyAI Shopify theme accessibility index, accessifyai.de

Scan your own store

Your store has its own content, apps and settings on top of the theme. The free scanner runs the same rules on your storefront and shows every finding with its WCAG criterion.

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For the developer of Chord

If you have released a fix for any of these findings, or you think a result is wrong, write to support@accessifyai.de with “Chord” and the version number. We scan the demo store again and update this page with the new date.

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