You heard about ADA website lawsuits, or a customer told you the contact form would not let them finish, or you just want everyone who lands on your site to be able to use it. Either way, you want a website accessibility checklist small business owners can actually finish tonight, without learning code or paying for a rebuild first. The good news is that the first pass needs only a keyboard, a browser and about ten minutes. You will press Tab, zoom the text, send your own contact form and run one free checker. By the end you will have a short, dated list of what failed, which items you can fix yourself this week, and what to hand to whoever maintains your site.
Key Takeaways
Tab through your home page and contact form with the mouse set aside. If you cannot reach a link, button or field, or cannot see where you are, a visitor who does not use a mouse cannot use that part of your site.
WCAG 2.2 requires text to resize to 200% without losing content or functionality. Submit your contact form with a deliberate mistake to see whether the error tells people what to fix.
Text needs 4.5:1 contrast, or 3:1 for large text. Informative images need useful alt text, and prerecorded video needs captions.
The W3C says automated tools cannot determine accessibility by themselves. Use one result as a list of places to look.
ADA.gov gives private businesses flexibility in how they meet the law's general requirements. Hand keyboard traps, menus, booking tools and PDFs to a developer.
How do I check my website's accessibility in ten minutes?
Use a desktop browser and work on the pages that matter most: the home page, the menu, the contact form and whatever path leads to a sale or a booking. These steps follow the first-review approach in the W3C's Easy Checks, which was written for people who are not developers. It is a first review, not a full audit, but it will surface the problems that stop real visitors. Keep a note open and write down the page address and a short description each time something fails.
Tab through the page with the mouse set aside
Open your home page and press Tab repeatedly. Every link, button, menu item, form field and media control should be reachable, and you should be able to see which one is active at every step. WCAG 2.2 names these requirements Success Criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard and 2.4.7 Focus Visible. Then press Shift+Tab to go backward and make sure you never get stuck in one spot.
Watch for a sticky header or banner that covers the item you just tabbed to. WCAG 2.2 added Success Criterion 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) for exactly that, so a highlight that disappears behind a menu bar is a failure worth writing down.
Zoom the text to 200%
Increase your browser's text size, or zoom, to 200%. Text should stay readable, and menus, buttons and forms should still work. The standard is Success Criterion 1.4.4 Resize Text, which says text must resize to 200% without loss of content or functionality. Look for clipped words, buttons that slide under other elements, controls that vanish, and anything that forces sideways scrolling to finish a task.
Send your own contact form, mistake included
Reach the contact form with the keyboard alone. Check that every field has a visible label, that required fields are marked, and that you can reach the checkboxes, select menus and the submit button. WCAG 2.2 covers this in Success Criterion 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions. Then submit the form with a field left empty or an email address typed wrong. A useful error names the field and says how to fix it. An error that only turns a border red, or one that wipes what you typed, is a problem to hand over.
Check contrast, images and video
Contrast is Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum): 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Light gray text on white and text laid over a photo are the usual trouble spots, and a free contrast checker will give you the ratio for any two colors.
For images, the rule is Success Criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content. Informative and functional images, such as a logo that links home or a photo that shows a finished job, need a useful text alternative. Purely decorative images can use an empty alternative, `alt=""`, which tells assistive technology to skip them. The W3C's images tutorial shows each case. For video, Success Criterion 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) calls for captions on prerecorded video with sound, so play your own videos and read along.
Run one free checker last
Pick one free automated checker, run it on the home page and save the report. Treat every result as a lead to look into, not a pass or a fail. The next section explains why.
| Check | What to do | WCAG 2.2 criterion |
|---|---|---|
| Keyboard reach | Tab and Shift+Tab through the page and the form | 2.1.1 Keyboard |
| Visible focus | Confirm you can always see the active item | 2.4.7 Focus Visible, 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) |
| Text resize | Zoom text to 200% and use the page | 1.4.4 Resize Text |
| Form labels and errors | Submit the contact form with a mistake | 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions |
| Contrast | Compare text and background colors | 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) |
| Images | Look for useful alt text, empty alt on decoration | 1.1.1 Non-text Content |
| Video | Play it and read the captions | 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) |
What does the ADA actually say about my small business website?
ADA.gov says Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination by businesses open to the public and requires "full and equal enjoyment" of their goods, services and facilities. The Department of Justice states that inaccessible website features can limit access to those goods and services. Its web guidance also says businesses have flexibility in how they meet the ADA's general requirements, and it points to WCAG and Section 508 as useful technical guidance rather than a legal certificate.
It is easy to mix this up with a newer rule. The Department of Justice's 2024 Title II rule requires covered state and local governments to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA on set timelines. That rule is for public entities. It is not a universal WCAG mandate for private businesses, and it uses version 2.1 while this checklist cites version 2.2, which became a W3C Recommendation on October 5, 2023.
So, what does that mean for you? WCAG 2.2 is the best published yardstick for the checks above, and the DOJ treats it as useful guidance. No score, badge or checklist establishes legal compliance for every business. If you have received a letter or a legal threat, take it to a lawyer; this post covers the practical checks, not legal advice.
What can a free accessibility checker not tell me?
Automated tools are useful for the things a program can measure. They can flag missing alt text, some contrast failures, missing form labels, duplicate IDs and certain structural problems. The W3C's guide to selecting evaluation tools, updated May 13, 2024, states that tools cannot check every accessibility aspect automatically, can produce false or misleading results, and cannot determine accessibility by themselves.
A checker cannot reliably judge whether alt text says the right thing about a photo, whether headings are in a sensible order, whether keyboard focus moves in a logical sequence, whether an error message makes sense, whether captions are accurate, or whether a custom widget works with assistive technology. Those need a person, and the first four are things you just tested by hand. That is why a clean scan is a starting point rather than a finish line.
This is also where overlay widgets and accessibility badges fall short. A widget sits on top of your pages. It does not fix the content, structure and interactions underneath, and it does not make a site legally compliant. Put your time and money into the underlying fixes.
Which fixes can I make myself, and which go to a developer?
Many basic problems are content and style edits you can handle: useful image alternatives, visible form labels, captions on your videos, clearer instructions and darker text. Others live in code or in a vendor's tool, and a developer should take them. The sizes below are approximate; the real scope depends on your CMS, theme, plugins, custom code, page count and third-party systems.
| Problem | Where the fix lives | Typical job size |
|---|---|---|
| Missing or vague alt text | Content edit | Small per image, larger for galleries and charts |
| Missing form labels or instructions | Template or markup | Small to medium |
| Unclear errors or lost entries | JavaScript and server code | Medium |
| Low contrast | CSS, color system or design | Small to medium; larger if many templates share the colors |
| Hidden or obscured focus | CSS and layout | Small to medium |
| Text breaks at 200% zoom | Responsive layout and components | Medium |
| Missing captions | Content production | Small to medium per video |
| Keyboard traps, menus, pop-ups, sliders | Code or vendor change | Medium to large |
| PDFs, booking and payment tools | Document repair or vendor replacement | Medium to large |
Few of these need a rebuild. Many are corrected through content, CSS, labels, focus styling, captions and template fixes. The WCAG 2.2 Techniques and the W3C's forms tutorial show developers how each repair is done, which also gives you a way to check that a quote matches the problem.
Start with the items on your own list that you can change in an hour, and leave the keyboard traps and checkout tools for the person with access to the code.
What should I hand my developer after the check?
A good handoff saves time and money. Give whoever maintains the site a short list with the page address, what you did, what happened and what you expected, plus a screenshot. Group the items by the page or template they live on, because one fix in a shared template can clear the same failure on every page.
- The full checker report: Save it as a file, since it shows the code-level items you cannot judge yourself.
- Your keyboard and zoom notes: Say where focus disappeared, where you got stuck and where text broke at 200%.
- The form test: Record the field, the mistake you entered and what the error said.
- Third-party tools: List any booking, payment, chat or embedded form tools, since a vendor may have to fix those.
- Your priorities: Put the contact form, the booking path and the checkout ahead of the rest, because the work your business depends on should be usable first.
Ask for a manual review of the templates, forms, menus, content that changes on the page, mobile behavior and third-party tools. Professional help is worth paying for when your list is long but you cannot safely change the code, when a key path fails, when two checkers disagree, when a redesign or plugin change is coming, or when you need testing repeated after each update. What you should buy is a clear diagnosis, targeted repairs and a check of the key paths, and that is a focused review and fix, not a recurring widget subscription.
What can I stop worrying about?
Do not treat a perfect automated score as the goal. What counts is whether a visitor can finish the tasks your business offers: reading your services, finding your phone number, sending the form, booking and paying. The W3C notes that decorative images can use an empty `alt=""`, so you do not need to write paragraphs for every background graphic.
Do not let a tiny contrast difference outrank a contact form nobody can submit. The WCAG thresholds still matter, but a form or menu that locks people out is the bigger problem. And do not assume every issue needs a new website. Accessibility is not a one-time job either, since new pages, plugins and vendors can bring problems back, so repeat the ten-minute check after each big change.
Test your accessibility basics
Pick an answer to begin.
1. What contrast ratio does WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.3 require for normal text?
2. A free automated checker reports no errors on your home page. What does that tell you?
3. Which of these is a good first step before calling a developer?
Frequently Asked Questions About website accessibility checklist small business
What is the fastest accessibility check I can do?
Move through the page with the keyboard, check that the active item is always visible, zoom text to 200%, try the contact form and run one automated checker. It takes about ten minutes.
Does passing a checker prove my site is accessible?
No. The W3C says automated tools cannot determine accessibility by themselves, and manual review and human judgment are needed.
What contrast ratio does WCAG 2.2 require?
Success Criterion 1.4.3 requires 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text, with stated exceptions.
Does every image need descriptive alt text?
Informative and functional images need useful text alternatives. Decorative images can use an empty alternative, `alt=""`.
Do website videos need captions?
WCAG 2.2 requires captions for prerecorded audio in synchronized media, subject to its stated exception, under Success Criterion 1.2.2.
Does the ADA require every private business to use WCAG 2.2?
ADA.gov gives private businesses flexibility in how they meet the ADA's general requirements and does not set one detailed technical standard for all of them. The 2024 rule requiring WCAG 2.1 Level AA covers state and local governments.
What This Means for You
You can run a useful accessibility check in ten minutes: Tab through the page, confirm you can always see where you are, zoom text to 200%, send your own form with a mistake in it, look at contrast, alt text and captions, and run one free checker. Write down each failure with its page address. Fix what is a content or style edit, and hand the rest to a developer with your notes.
The longer-term payoff is a site that more of your customers can use on their own, whether they use a keyboard, enlarged text, captions or a screen reader. Repeating the check after each redesign, plugin change or new video keeps the list short and the repairs small.
If you want a second set of eyes, we at Web Leveling can review your list, make the content, template and code fixes, and test the contact and booking paths after each change, as part of our web design work. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas, and you can send us your checklist results through our contact page to start.
Terms
Accessibility words in this post
Tap a term to see what it means.
WCAG. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the W3C's testable standard for accessible web content. Version 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation on October 5, 2023.
Success criterion. A single testable requirement in WCAG, such as 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum).
Focus indicator. The visible highlight that shows which link, button or field is active when you use the keyboard.
Alt text. A short text alternative for an image that screen readers read aloud; decorative images use an empty `alt=""`.
Screen reader. Software that reads a page's text and controls aloud or sends them to a braille display.
Overlay widget. A script that adds an accessibility toolbar on top of a site without repairing the content and code underneath.
