Install guide
How to add an accessibility widget to WordPress
- 5 steps
- Copy and paste, no coding
- Runs on every page
What do you need before you start?
- An Administrator account on your WordPress site.
- A self-hosted WordPress site, or a WordPress.com site on a paid plan. Free WordPress.com sites can't install plugins.
- Your site added in your Octo Assist dashboard under the domain visitors use, for example example.com (www.example.com works too).
- An active Octo Assist plan. You can paste the code first, but the button only appears once a plan is active. See pricing.
How do you add Octo Assist to WordPress?
Step 1: Install the WPCode plugin
With your code copied, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin in your WordPress admin. Search for WPCode, then click Install Now and Activate on "WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers".
Step 2: Open the Header & Footer page
In the admin menu, go to Code Snippets → Header & Footer. You will see three boxes: Header, Body and Footer.
Step 3: Paste the code in the Footer box
Paste your code into the Footer box and click Save Changes. WPCode adds it to the bottom of every page, just before the closing </body> tag.
Step 4: Clear your cache
If you use a caching plugin or a CDN, clear its cache so visitors get the updated pages.
Step 5: Or add it to your theme instead
Prefer no plugin? In a classic theme, paste the line just before </body> in your child theme's footer.php (Appearance → Theme File Editor). Use a child theme, because a theme update replaces the main theme's files. In a block theme, go to Appearance → Editor → Patterns, open the Footer template part, add a Custom HTML block and paste the line there.
How do you know it worked?
Open your live site in a private (incognito) window, so you see it the way a new visitor does. Look for the round button in the bottom right corner, or bottom left if you chose that in your dashboard. Click it, or press Alt+Shift+A (Option+Shift+A on a Mac), to open the panel, then turn on a tool such as Text size to check that the page changes. Caching plugins often show logged-in users a fresh page and visitors a saved copy, so the private window is the best test of what visitors get.
What if the button doesn't show up?
I saved the code. Why doesn't the button show yet?
A caching or speed plugin may still serve the old page. Clear its cache, and any server or CDN cache too. If the plugin combines, minifies or delays JavaScript, exclude widget.js from those options and clear the cache again.
Why doesn't the button show on my site?
Most often the address doesn't match. The widget only runs on the domain you added in your dashboard and its www version. If you added example.com, it also runs on www.example.com, but not on shop.example.com or a staging address. If you added www.example.com, it won't run on example.com, so add the domain without www. Your browser's console also shows a short note that says why the widget is hidden.
My dashboard says Needs a plan. Will the button show?
No. You can install the code before you choose a plan, but the button only appears once your plan is active. Choose a plan on the Billing page of your dashboard, then reload your site.
Can I paste the code into my main theme's footer.php?
You can, but the next theme update replaces that file and removes the line. Use a child theme, a block theme's Footer template part, or a plugin such as WPCode, which keeps the code when the theme changes.
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