Website accessibility checklist

What WCAG 2.2 level AA asks for, in the words a business owner would use. Tick as you go; print it for your developer.

Images and media

Every meaningful image has alt text that says what it shows Decorative images have empty alt text (alt="") Videos have captions; audio has a transcript Nothing autoplays with sound; moving content can be paused

Text and colour

Text contrast at least 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text) against its background Colour isn't the only way information is shown (e.g. errors also have text) Text can be zoomed to 200% without breaking the layout Line height and spacing aren't locked by the design

Keyboard

Every link, button and control can be reached with Tab and used with Enter or Space You can see which element has focus Tab order follows the visual order No keyboard traps (menus, modals, embedded widgets you can't escape) A 'skip to content' link is the first thing Tab reaches

Forms

Every field has a visible label connected to it Required fields and errors are explained in text, next to the field Submitting with mistakes keeps what was typed and says what to fix No time limits, or they can be extended

Structure

One H1 per page; headings in order (H2, then H3) Page title says what the page is The page's language is set Links say where they go ('see our prices', not 'click here') Tables use header cells

Dynamic parts

Menus, accordions and carousels work with a keyboard and announce their state Pop-ups move focus in and return it when closed Live updates (cart totals, search results) are announced Embedded maps and videos have titles

Documents and policy

PDFs are tagged or the same information is on an HTML page An accessibility statement says what you've done and how to report a problem Someone reads and answers those reports

W3C: How to meet WCAG 2.2 (quick reference) · checked Oct 2026

General information, not legal advice.