What this review can tell you
- Whether important pages have obvious barriers worth investigating.
- Which customer tasks need a closer look, including navigation and inquiries.
- What to document before making changes or arranging a more thorough assessment.
Start with the pages people use to understand your services, contact you, or complete a transaction. A useful first review follows those tasks rather than treating a scanner score as the whole story.
W3C’s Easy Checks are a starting point. Passing a few checks does not establish that a website is fully accessible.
Start with keyboard access
Put the mouse aside and use Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, and the appropriate arrow keys. Follow the navigation, open and close menus, and reach the controls on a key page.
Note where focus becomes hard to see, a control cannot be reached, or you cannot leave an element. Check dialogs and embedded widgets as well as the main navigation. W3C includes keyboard access and visible focus in its introductory review.
Check text and visual clarity
Look at body text, links, buttons, and words over photographs. WCAG’s AA text-contrast criterion generally uses at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text, with defined exceptions. Use the actual criterion when evaluating a design.
Increase text size and check whether the important content remains usable. Watch for clipped labels, overlapping controls, and information that depends only on color.
Try the form as a customer would
Check that every field has a meaningful label, required information is explained, and errors tell the person how to continue. Placeholder text should not be the only field label.
Follow the intended route through the form, including correction of an error. On a live site, use an agreed test process so testing does not create unintended orders or messages. See W3C’s guidance on forms, labels, and errors.
Review images and media
Meaningful images need appropriate text alternatives; decorative images should not add unnecessary screen-reader noise. Review captions for spoken video and provide accessible alternatives for information presented in documents or images. The WCAG quick reference describes the relevant criteria.
Record what needs attention
For each finding, record the page, the task, what happened, and how someone can reproduce it. A specific note such as “the menu cannot be closed with the keyboard” is more useful than a general statement that the site failed.
Content edits may resolve some issues. Repeated theme, component, or interaction problems can need development work. Review the proposed fixes and retest the affected tasks.
Keep the scope of the check clear
The U.S. Department of Justice’s web accessibility guidance describes accessibility responsibilities for businesses open to the public. A technical checklist cannot determine a particular organization’s legal obligations or whether its website meets them.
This is an introductory technical review, not a complete WCAG assessment or a legal opinion. A more thorough assessment and advice suited to the organization may be needed.
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