Accessibility Checklists

This checklist applies to content published on websites, microsites and web applications.

Page title

• A title adequately and briefly describes the content of the page
• The title is different and distinguishes it from other pages on the website 

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.4.2 - Page Titled

Alt text

• Every image intended to convey meaning has an alt="" value or field with an appropriate text alternative
• Decorative images that are not important to understanding the page content contain null alt (alt="") attribute

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.1.1 - Non-text Content

Headings

• The contains at least one heading (e.g. the page title)
• Text that looks like a heading is marked as as heading
• All text marked as a heading functions as a heading
• The heading hierarchy is meaningful and goes in order from H1 to H6
• No heading levels are skipped

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.4.6 - Headings and Labels

Color contrast

• Normal sized text contains a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
• The contrast ratio for large text (19 px and bold or 24 px and normal) is at least 3:1

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.4.3 - Contrast (Minimum)

Resizing text with conventional browser approaches

• Text doesn't disappear or get cut off when enlarged
• Text, images and other content do not overlap
• All buttons, form fields and other controls are visible and usable
• Horizontal scrolling is not required to read sentences or "blocks of text"

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.4.4 - Resize Text

Keyboard access and visual focus 

• You can tab through all the elements, including links, form fields, buttons, and media player controls
• You can tab away from all elements you can tab into (no "keyboard trap")
• The tab order follows a logical reading order (e.g. top to bottom, left to right)
• The focus is clearly visible as you tab through the elements (e.g. links are outlined or highlighted)
• Arrow keys can be used to move through a drop-down list without triggering an action 
• Linked images have clear visual focus and can be activated using the keyboard 

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.1.1 - Keyboard, Success Criterion 2.4.7 - Focus Visible

Forms, labels and errors (Including Search Forms)

• Keyboard access
  • All form controls are accessible by following the keyboard access checks
• Labels
  • Every form control has a label associated with it using 'label', 'for', and 'id'
  • Labels are positioned correctly (e.g. left of text boxes and drop-down lists, right of radio buttons and checkboxes)
• Required fields
  • Fields that are required/mandatory are clearly indicated
  • The indicator does not rely on color alone
  • The indicator (such as asterisks (*)) is included in the marked up field label for text boxes and drop-down lists, or legend for radio buttons and checkboxes
  • Any instructions for completing the form are before they are needed
  • General instructions are at the top of the form or the section they relate to
  • Required formats, such as dates (year-month-date in the format 0000-00-00), are included in the marked up label
• Error handling
  • Clear and specific guidance is provided to help people understand and fix the error
  • Errors are easily findable
  • Fields without errors are still populated with the data you entered

WCAG: Success Criterion 3.3.1 - Error Identification, Success Criterion 3.3.2 - Labels or Instructions, Success Criterion 3.3.3 - Error Suggestion

Moving, flashing or blinking content

• Users can pause, stop or hide any moving, blinking, or scrolling information that starts automatically and lasts more than five seconds
• Users can pause, stop, hide or control the frequency of auto-updated information
• No content flashes or blinks more than three times in one second

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.2.2 - Pause, Stop, Hide, Success Criterion 2.3.1 - Three Flashes or Below Threshold

Multimedia alternatives

• Keyboard access
  • The media player controls are labeled and keyboard accessible
• Auto-start control: For audio that starts automatically when a web page opens
  • It stops after 3 seconds
  • Users can pause or stop the audio
  • Users can adjust the audio
• Captions (or subtitles)
  • The video has a CC button that can be toggled
  • Captions are in sync with the spoken content
  • The people speaking are identified
  • Important sound other than dialog is included
• Transcript: It is best practice to provide both captions and transcripts, but not always required
  • Transcripts are easy to find near the audio/video itself and any links to the audio/video
  • Transcripts include all audio information, including dialog with the speakers identified, and all important sound
  • A person can get all the content of the video by reading the text
• Audio description
  • Audio description - where the audio track includes someone describing the important visuals. Audio description can be included in the main video, or it can be provided in a separate video.
  • Text transcript - that includes description of meaningful visual information (so it's kind of like a screenplay).

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.2.1 - Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded), Success Criterion 1.2.2 - Captions (Prerecorded), Success Criterion 1.2.3 - Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded), Success Criterion 1.2.4 - Captions (Live)

Basic structure

• Information makes sense when read in the order it is shown (e.g. headings are right above the information they apply to)
• Alternative text provides adequate information for missing images 
• Blocks of information have clear headings

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships

This checklist can be used prior to running a full check through Adobe Acrobat Pro. Learn more about using Adobe to check PDFs for accessibility. 

Text, title, fonts and document language

• Document contains no scanned images of text
• There is a title that adequately describes the document
• All text in the PDF is searchable 
• A language has been specified for the document

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.4.2 - Page Titled, Success Criterion 3.1.1 - Language of Page 

Non-text content

• Images intended to convey meaning contain a text alternative
• Images meant to be decorative are marked as such 
• Interactive form fields contain a text alternative

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.1.1 - Non-text Content

Hyperlinks and navigational aids

• All navigational aids (links, bookmarks, headings, table of contents) can be accessed through a keyboard
• All navigational aids give the user multiple ways to navigate the document's content
• Link text provides a meaningful description to the user

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.1.1 - Keyboard, Success Criterion 2.4.7 - Focus Visible, Success Criterion 2.4.4 - Link Purpose (In Context), Success Criterion 2.4.5 - Multiple Ways, Success Criterion 3.2.3 - Consistent Navigation

Headings

• Text that looks like a heading is marked as as heading
• All text tagged as a heading functions as a heading
• The heading hierarchy is meaningful and goes in order from H1 to H6
• No heading levels are skipped

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.4.6 - Headings and Labels

Structure and reading order

• The tags structure and reading order make sense to the user, a screen reader or other text-to-speech tools
• Tags properly identify headings, paragraphs, sections, tables and other page elements

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships, Success Criterion 1.3.2 - Meaningful Sequence, Success Criterion 2.4.3 - Focus Order

Color

• Color alone is not used to convey meaning
• Document contains sufficient color contrast
• Normal sized text contains a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
• The contrast ratio for large text (19 px and bold or 24 px and normal) is at least 3:1

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.4.3 - Use of Color, Success Criterion 1.4.3 - Contrast (Minimum)

Lists and tables

• Tables are tagged with rows, table headers and table data properly structured
• Tables contain the same number of columns in each row, and the same number of rows in each column
• All lists contain the following structure: a List element <L> must contain List Item <LI> elements. List Item elements can only contain Label elements <Lbl> and List Item Body elements <LBody>

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships

Non-text content

• Images intended to convey meaning contain a text alternative
• Images meant to be decorative are marked as such 
• Interactive form fields contain a text alternative

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.1.1 - Non-text Content

Titles and headings

• Document uses built-in title, subtitle and heading styles
• Text that looks like a heading is marked as as heading
• The heading hierarchy is meaningful and goes in order from H1 to H6
• No heading levels are skipped

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.4.2 - Page Titled, Success Criterion 2.4.6 - Headings and Labels

Font sizing and formatting

• Familiar sans serif fonts (Arial or Calibri) are used
• Text does feature excessive amounts of all capital letters, italics and underlines
• Font size for paragraph text is at least 12pt or no larger than 14pt

Hyperlinks and ScreenTips

• Link text provides a meaningful description to the user and avoid "click here" or "go here."
• ScreenTips appear when cursor hovers over linked text or images

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.1.1 - Keyboard, Success Criterion 2.4.7 - Focus Visible, Success Criterion 2.4.4 - Link Purpose (In Context)

Color

• Color alone is not used to convey meaning
• Normal sized text contains a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
• The contrast ratio for large text (19 px and bold or 24 px and normal) is at least 3:1

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.4.3 - Use of Color, Success Criterion 1.4.3 - Contrast (Minimum)

Tables

In general, it is recommended to avoid using tables in Word documents and to find another day to present that data.

• Table headers are properly used and labeled
• Table does not use a fixed width
• Tables contain the same number of columns in each row, and the same number of rows in each column
• Table displays properly on all devices (desktop, phone, tablet)

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships

Lists

• Lists are created using built-in bulleted or numbered lists

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships

 

Non-text content

• Images intended to convey meaning contain a text alternative (or alt text)
• Images meant to be decorative are marked as such 
• Interactive form fields contain a text alternative

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.1.1 - Non-text Content

Titles and headings

• Every slide has a unique title
• Presentation uses built-in and heading styles
• Text that looks like a heading is marked as as heading
• The heading hierarchy is meaningful and goes in order
• No heading levels are skipped

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.4.2 - Page Titled, Success Criterion 2.4.6 - Headings and Labels

Font sizing and formatting

• Familiar sans serif fonts (Arial or Calibri) are used
• Text does feature excessive amounts of all capital letters, italics and underlines
• Font size for paragraph text is 18pt or larger

Structure and reading order

• Slide contents can be read in their intended order by a screen reader

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships, Success Criterion 1.3.2 - Meaningful Sequence

Hyperlinks and ScreenTips

• Link text provides a meaningful description to the user and avoid "click here" or "go here."
• ScreenTips appear when cursor hovers over linked text or images

WCAG: Success Criterion 2.1.1 - Keyboard, Success Criterion 2.4.7 - Focus Visible, Success Criterion 2.4.4 - Link Purpose (In Context)

Color

• Color alone is not used to convey meaning
• Normal sized text contains a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
• The contrast ratio for large text (19 px and bold or 24 px and normal) is at least 3:1

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.4.3 - Use of Color, Success Criterion 1.4.3 - Contrast (Minimum)

Tables

• Table headers are properly used and labeled
• Table does not use a fixed width
• Tables structure is simple with the same number of columns in each row, and the same number of rows in each column
• Table displays properly on all devices (desktop, phone, tablet)

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships

Lists

• Lists are created using built-in bulleted or numbered lists

WCAG: Success Criterion 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships