Use ten practical checks for page structure, keyboard access, images, forms, media, readable content, and ongoing accessibility review.
A website accessibility checklist helps a community organization find common barriers before they prevent someone from reading information, registering for an event, requesting help, volunteering, donating, or making contact. It is a starting point for better practice—not a certification or a substitute for a complete evaluation.
People use the web with screen readers, keyboard navigation, voice input, magnification, captions, customized colors, and many other strategies. Accessible design also helps people using a phone outdoors, reading in a second language, coping with a temporary injury, or working through a slow connection.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an international technical standard organized around four principles: content should be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. W3C encourages use of the latest WCAG 2 version.
A checklist cannot cover every success criterion, disability, device, or user experience. Pair technical review with common real-world tasks: finding hours, opening a resource, completing a form, reading a notice, or contacting the organization. Involve people with disabilities in research and testing, and respond to reported barriers.
The browser title should identify the page and organization. The visible main heading should state what the page is about. Avoid repeated titles such as “Information” or “Learn More” across many pages.
At the top of the page, make the main action easy to find. A visitor should not have to interpret a slogan before learning whether the page contains an event registration, resource guide, volunteer form, donation option, or educational article.
Build headings as real heading elements rather than large bold text. Use one clear page-level heading, then organize sections in a logical hierarchy. Do not choose a heading level only for its visual size.
Scan the headings without reading every paragraph. They should form a useful outline. Screen-reader users often navigate by headings, and clear structure also helps anyone skimming on a small screen.
Starting at the address bar, use the Tab and Shift+Tab keys to move through links, buttons, menus, fields, dialogs, and controls. Use Enter or Space where appropriate. The focus indicator should remain visible, follow a sensible order, and never become trapped.
Test menus, pop-ups, accordions, carousels, date pickers, and embedded tools. A pointer-friendly design can still be unusable when an action requires hovering, dragging, or clicking a small target.
Informative images need alt text that communicates their purpose in context. A photo used only for atmosphere may need a brief description; a chart needs the important conclusion in nearby text; a linked image should describe the link’s action. Decorative images should generally be ignored by assistive technology.
Do not begin every description with “image of,” repeat the caption, stuff keywords, or describe a person’s race, disability, or other identity when it is not relevant and known. The goal is equivalent information, not a visual inventory.
Text, icons, controls, and focus indicators need enough contrast against their backgrounds. Test normal, hover, focus, disabled, error, and visited states. A brand color that works for a large heading may fail for small text.
Do not use color as the only signal. Pair a red outline with an error message, a green status with text, and chart colors with labels or patterns. Check content in high-contrast and dark-mode settings where practical.
Every field needs a persistent programmatic label. Placeholder text is not a label because it may disappear and often has low contrast. Identify required fields in text, group related choices, and place instructions before the point where they are needed.
When submission fails, identify the affected field, explain the problem in plain language, preserve information the person already entered, and move focus or provide a clear error summary. Do not rely on color alone or time someone out without warning.
Link text should make sense out of context. “Download the volunteer guide” is more useful than several links named “click here.” Buttons should describe the action, such as “Submit partnership inquiry,” not a vague “Go.”
Warn people when a link opens a large file, starts a download, or leads to another website when that change may be unexpected. Avoid opening new tabs unless there is a clear reason.
Videos with speech need accurate synchronized captions. Audio-only content needs a transcript, and important visual information in video may require audio description or an equivalent text alternative. Identify speakers and meaningful sounds when they affect understanding.
Review automatic captions rather than assuming they are correct. Provide player controls that work by keyboard, avoid autoplay with sound, and give people a way to pause moving or time-based content.
Increase browser zoom and text size. Content should remain readable without overlapping, disappearing, or requiring horizontal scrolling for ordinary text. Check orientation changes and narrow screens.
Avoid flashing content. Respect reduced-motion preferences, provide pause controls for animation, and ensure sticky headers or chat widgets do not cover text, buttons, or the current keyboard focus.
Automated tools can quickly find certain missing labels, contrast failures, and code problems, but they cannot determine whether alt text is meaningful or a task makes sense. The Department of Justice web-accessibility guidance recommends pairing automated checking with manual review.
W3C’s Easy Checks covers page titles, alt text, headings, contrast, resizing, keyboard access, forms, media, and basic structure while emphasizing that these checks are not a complete evaluation. Add an accessibility contact route and track issues through correction and retesting.
Begin with the home page, navigation, contact page, current announcements, forms, donation or payment flow, event registration, resource downloads, and pages receiving the most traffic. Include third-party tools and embedded content in the review; a barrier remains a barrier even when another vendor provides it.
Assign each issue an owner, impact, target date, and retest status. Fix reusable templates and components before correcting the same defect page by page. Add accessibility checks to publishing, design, procurement, and vendor-review routines so new barriers are less likely to return.
UWP’s Accessibility, Wellness Education, Resources, and Partnerships pages provide context for inclusive community communication.
Include page titles, headings, keyboard operation, visible focus, text alternatives, contrast, forms, links, captions, zoom and reflow, motion controls, mobile use, automated checks, manual testing, and a feedback process.
No. Automated tools detect some patterns, not the full user experience. Manual keyboard review, assistive-technology testing where appropriate, task testing, and feedback from people with disabilities are also important.
WCAG is the W3C international standard explaining how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. It includes testable success criteria organized under four accessibility principles.
Informative images need an appropriate text alternative. Purely decorative images generally should be ignored by assistive technology. The correct treatment depends on the image’s purpose in context.
Use Tab and Shift+Tab to move through the page, and Enter, Space, arrow, and Escape keys where expected. Confirm that focus is visible, order is logical, every control works, and focus never becomes trapped.
Review high-priority paths regularly and test whenever templates, navigation, forms, media, vendors, or major content change. Include accessibility in every publishing cycle rather than relying on a one-time audit.
No. It is educational and incomplete. Applicable obligations vary by organization and jurisdiction. Use current official guidance and qualified legal or accessibility professionals for compliance decisions and comprehensive evaluation.
Choose one important page and complete it using only a keyboard. Record every place where focus disappears, an action fails, or instructions become unclear, then assign the first fix.
This article provides general digital-accessibility education, not legal advice, certification, or a complete WCAG conformance evaluation.