A website accessibility checklist you can work through this week

Text and color

• Body text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background (3:1 for large text). Light gray on white is the most common failure.
• Information is never shown by color alone, for example a required field is marked with text or an icon as well as red.
• Text can be zoomed to 200% without being cut off or overlapping.

Images and media

• Every meaningful image has alt text that says what the image shows or does.
• Decorative images have empty alt text (alt="") so screen readers skip them.
• Videos have captions, and audio has a transcript.

Links and buttons

• Every link and button has readable text. An icon-only button needs a label for screen readers.
• Link text makes sense on its own: "View our pricing", not "click here".
• Everything clickable can be reached and used with the Tab and Enter keys, with a visible focus outline.

Forms

• Every field has a visible label tied to it, not just placeholder text that disappears.
• Error messages say what went wrong and how to fix it.
• Booking and contact forms can be completed with a keyboard alone.

Page structure

• The page declares its language (for example lang="en").
• Each page has one main heading, and headings go in order without skipping levels.
• Page titles are unique and describe the page.

Keep it fixed

Sites drift. A new page builder block, a theme update or a new photo can bring an issue back. Re-checking on a schedule catches that before a customer does. SiteGuard scans weekly and emails what changed.

More guides

• WCAG 2.1 AA, explained in plain English
• Website accessibility for small businesses: what actually matters