A website accessibility checklist is the fastest way to find out whether people with disabilities can actually use your site, and whether you are carrying avoidable risk. This guide gives Charleston and Mount Pleasant business owners 18 plain-English checks based on WCAG 2.2, the benchmark most often used for the ADA question, plus free tools and a 20-minute self-test. It is a practical guide, not legal advice.
In short:
- The ADA does not name a technical standard for private-business websites. The DOJ says existing standards such as WCAG “provide helpful guidance,” and WCAG 2.x Level AA is the benchmark most commonly used.
- Most problems are basic: low-contrast text, missing image descriptions, unlabeled form fields, and links that say nothing. You can find many of them yourself in 20 minutes.
- Free tools catch only part of the issues. A keyboard-only test and a quick look at your PDFs catch much of the rest.
- Accessibility overlaps with good SEO and good conversion, but treat it as the right thing to do first, not a ranking trick.
- Questions about legal exposure belong with an attorney who handles ADA matters.
Is your website ADA compliant? What the rules actually say
The short, hedged answer: nobody can tell you from the outside that a site is “ADA compliant,” because there is no official certificate or single technical test. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires businesses open to the public to provide equal access, and the Department of Justice’s web accessibility guidance says that businesses have flexibility in how they comply. The DOJ also notes that it has no regulation setting out detailed technical standards for these websites, and points to existing standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as helpful guidance.
In practice, WCAG 2.x at Level AA is the yardstick that most accessibility consultants, auditors, and agreements reference. WCAG 2.2, a W3C Recommendation since October 2023, is the current version, and it builds on 2.0 and 2.1, so a site that meets 2.2 AA also covers the earlier versions’ Level A and AA criteria (apart from one obsolete parsing criterion that 2.2 removed).
What about the DOJ rule you may have heard about?
The DOJ’s web rule is real, but it covers state and local governments, not private businesses. It sets WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the standard for those entities. The DOJ’s rule page notes that an interim final rule published April 20, 2026 extended the compliance dates, so check ADA.gov for the current schedule. If your business contracts with a government agency, ask your attorney whether any of this reaches you.
Why bother if the law is vague?
Two reasons. First, real customers run into these barriers. The 2026 WebAIM Million report, an automated scan of one million home pages in February 2026, found detectable WCAG 2 failures on 95.9% of them. Low-contrast text appeared on 83.9% of pages, missing image alt text on 53.1%, and missing form labels on 51%. Second, a site that works for everyone tends to work better for everyone, which is the same idea behind what makes a good website in the first place.
The 18-point website accessibility checklist
Work through these by area. Each item maps to a WCAG success criterion, but you do not need to memorize the numbers. If you answer “no” or “not sure” on an item, that is your to-do list for your web developer.
Images and media
- Meaningful images have alt text. Photos of your team, product, or dish need a short description of what matters in the image. Logos used as links should describe the destination (“CORE CONNECT home”).
- Decorative images are marked as decorative. Background flourishes and dividers should have empty alt text (
alt="") so screen readers skip them. - Videos have captions, and audio has a transcript. Auto-generated captions are a start, but review them for names and terms.
- Nothing flashes or autoplays. WCAG limits content that flashes more than three times per second, and moving or auto-updating content (like a carousel) needs a way to pause or stop it.
Color and readability
- Text meets a 4.5:1 contrast ratio. That is the WCAG minimum for normal-size text against its background. Large text and key icons or form borders need 3:1. Light gray on white and white text on a photo are the usual culprits.
- Color is never the only signal. “Required fields are in red” fails for color-blind visitors. Add a label, an asterisk with explanation, or an icon.
Keyboard navigation and focus
- Everything works without a mouse. Menus, buttons, forms, sliders, and pop-ups must be reachable and usable with the Tab, Enter, Space, and arrow keys.
- You can always see where you are. The focused item needs a visible outline, and under WCAG 2.2 a sticky header or cookie banner must not completely cover it.
- There is a “skip to main content” link. It saves keyboard users from tabbing through your whole menu on every page.
Structure, headings, and links
- Headings follow a logical order. One H1, then H2s for sections and H3s for sub-points, chosen for meaning rather than size.
- Link text makes sense on its own. “Read our menu” beats “click here.” Screen reader users often browse a list of links without the surrounding text.
- Every page has a unique, descriptive title and the page language is set in the code.
Forms
- Every field has a visible, connected label. Placeholder text that vanishes when someone types is not a label.
- Errors are specific and easy to find. “Enter a phone number like 843-555-0123” is useful. A red border with no message is not.
- Logins and checkouts do not rely on puzzles alone. WCAG 2.2 asks that authentication not depend on a memory or puzzle test without an alternative, such as letting password managers work.
Mobile, zoom, and touch
- The page zooms and reflows. Visitors should be able to enlarge text to 200% without losing content, and pinch-zoom should never be disabled.
- Tap targets are big enough. WCAG 2.2 sets a minimum of 24 by 24 CSS pixels for most pointer targets, with some exceptions. Bigger is friendlier for thumbs.
PDFs and downloads
- PDFs are real, readable documents. A menu, price list, or patient form saved as a scanned image cannot be read by a screen reader. Use tagged PDFs with real text, or better, put the content on a web page.
Free tools to test your site
Automated tools are a smart first pass, but they cannot judge whether your alt text is helpful or whether the page makes sense. The WebAIM report itself only counts automatically detectable failures, so real-world problems are usually higher than any scanner shows. Use these together.
| Tool | What it checks | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| WAVE (WebAIM) | Shows errors and alerts directly on the page: missing alt text, empty links, contrast, labels | Seeing problems in context |
| Lighthouse (built into Chrome DevTools) | An accessibility score plus a list of failed automated checks | A quick baseline you can re-run |
| axe DevTools | Browser extension with a detailed list of issues and how to fix them | Handing a precise list to a developer |
| WebAIM Contrast Checker | Tests a text and background color pair against WCAG ratios | Brand colors and buttons |
| Keyboard-only test | Whether you can use the site with Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, and Space | Catching what scanners miss |
| Built-in screen readers (VoiceOver on Mac and iPhone, TalkBack on Android, Narrator on Windows) | How a page is announced aloud | A basic reality check on headings and links |
A Lighthouse score of 100 does not mean your site is accessible. It means it passed the checks a machine can run. Treat the score as a smoke detector, not a clean bill of health.
The 20-minute self-test
Set a timer and do this on your home page and your most important conversion page (booking, contact, or checkout).
- Minutes 0 to 5: run WAVE and Lighthouse. Note the count of contrast errors, missing alt text, empty links, and missing labels.
- Minutes 5 to 12: unplug your mouse. Press Tab through the whole page. Can you reach the menu, open it, and get to every link and button? Can you always see the focus outline? Can you submit your contact form and read any error message?
- Minutes 12 to 15: zoom in. Zoom the browser to 200% and then view on your phone. Does anything overlap, disappear, or require sideways scrolling?
- Minutes 15 to 18: listen. Turn on VoiceOver or Narrator and listen to the first screen. Do headings and links make sense without seeing them?
- Minutes 18 to 20: check your downloads. Open your menu, brochure, or intake form PDFs. Can you select the text? If not, it is probably an image.
Write down what failed, with a screenshot. That list is the most valuable thing you can bring to your developer.
Why overlay widgets are not a guaranteed fix
You will see ads for a one-line script that promises instant compliance. Be careful. In April 2025 the FTC approved a final order requiring accessiBe to pay $1 million, alleging that the company’s claims that its AI-powered tool could make any website WCAG-compliant were false, misleading, or unsubstantiated. You can read the FTC announcement for the details. That does not mean every add-on is useless, but fixing the underlying code, colors, and content is the dependable path, and a widget on top of a broken site does not change what is underneath.
How accessibility overlaps with SEO and conversion
Many accessibility fixes happen to help search engines and shoppers too. Keep the claim modest: they are good habits that align, not a guaranteed ranking boost.
- Alt text and headings. Descriptive alt text and a clean heading outline give search engines and AI answer tools clearer context about a page.
- Descriptive link text. It helps visitors and gives crawlers context for where a link leads.
- Readable, fast, mobile-friendly pages. Larger tap targets, clear contrast, and simple layouts reduce friction for everyone using a phone in bright sunlight on King Street.
- Clear forms. Labeled fields and specific error messages mean fewer abandoned inquiries. If a form is why your site isn’t generating leads, accessibility may be part of the answer.
Charleston angle: restaurants, medical offices, and retail
Local businesses see the same patterns again and again, and visitors to the Lowcountry include people of every age and ability.
- Restaurants and hospitality. Menus saved as image-only PDFs, reservation widgets that cannot be used by keyboard, and light text over food photos are common. Our notes on a Charleston restaurant website cover menus and booking flows.
- Medical and dental. Patient forms, portals, and appointment requests are high-stakes places for labels, error messages, and readable contrast. See how we think about medical and dental websites, and keep in mind privacy rules are a separate topic for your compliance team.
- Retail and tours. Product photos need descriptions, size and color pickers must work by keyboard, and mobile checkout targets must be easy to hit.
What to ask your web developer
- “Which WCAG version and level do you build to, and can you show me the audit results?”
- “Can I use the whole site, including forms and menus, with only a keyboard?”
- “Do my brand colors pass 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text and buttons?”
- “Who writes and reviews alt text and captions when we add new content?”
- “How do you keep accessibility from breaking after plugin or theme updates?” This is where ongoing upkeep matters, so also review our WordPress website maintenance checklist.
- “Do you use an overlay, and if so, what is fixed in the code itself?”
How CORE CONNECT helps
You do not need a perfect score to make real progress. Run the self-test, fix the biggest barriers first, and build accessible habits into every page you publish. If you would rather have a second set of eyes, the CORE Team can look at your site through this checklist as part of our web design work and tell you plainly what to fix first and what can wait. Book a quick call and we will walk through your results with you, no pressure and no jargon.
