Cart Fragments or Full Page Reload for Accessible Add-to-Cart Updates?

Direct answer

Retain Cart Fragments when your theme can reliably move focus to an ARIA live region or the updated mini-cart after the asynchronous update; disable fragments only when the theme hard-codes fragment hooks that break without AJAX and you cannot add focus management. Fragments preserve perceived performance, while a full page reload trades latency for simpler focus behavior.

Likely explanation

In recent WooCommerce versions, a full page reload refreshes the entire DOM, so keyboard focus and screen-reader announcements naturally follow the new cart state. Cart Fragments update totals and the mini-cart asynchronously, but many themes redirect focus to the page header, leaving screen-reader users without confirmation unless JavaScript explicitly re-focuses the relevant region. WooCommerce core does not expose a native toggle to disable fragments, and theme code that assumes fragment hooks are present can break visually when they are removed.

Confirmed facts and required steps

1. With fragments enabled, trigger an add-to-cart action and verify whether focus stays on the product list or moves to the mini-cart, and whether a screen reader announces the change.
2. With fragments disabled via plugin or theme modification, confirm the reload does not move focus away from the trigger and that the cart update is announced.
3. Measure page load time and server response latency for both paths using browser dev tools to quantify the performance trade-off.
4. Inspect the theme source for hard-coded fragment callbacks; if present, disabling fragments may cause layout inconsistencies.

Diagnostic detail

Does your theme's JavaScript currently move focus to an ARIA live region or the updated mini-cart after a fragment refresh? If yes, retain fragments and tune the announcement. If no, and the theme cannot be adjusted, a full page reload is the safer accessibility choice despite the added latency.