Accessibility Checklist

What’s On Your Page

Select the types of content you have on your webpage

• Forms or other interactive content
• Animations, moving content, flashing content
• A form that causes a legal or financial commitment, grades a test response, or modifies or deletes data
• Audio content that plays automatically and lasts longer than 3 seconds
• A time limit of any kind
• A table containing data
• A CAPTCHA script (verifying the user is a person)
• A visual presentation without audio such as a slideshow
• A movie that has both audio and visual elements
• Audio-only media (such as music, spoken phrases, etc.)
• Text that is not in the main language of the page (e.g., phrases or passages in French in a predominantly English page)

Scroll down to find checklists for each content type you selected. Note: this form does not submit. Use it to keep track of what you have done to address accesibility concerns on your page or site. Many items on the checklist include links to the WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria and other resources.

Basic Checklist

Select techniques used for general features you have on your web page

• All non-text content has a text alternative. (Follow Guideline 1.1)
• Text content is organized using p tags. (Follow Success Criterion 1.3.1)
• Content is emphasized using em and strong tags, and doesn’t use b or i tags or solely rely on CSS to convey emphasis. (Follow Success Criterion 1.3.1)
• Lists, groups of links, or other listable items are listed using ol, ul, or dl. (Follow Success Criterion 1.3.1)
• The content of a web page can be perceived easily when reading from top to bottom in the source code. (Follow Success Criterion 1.3.2)
• The presentation of a web page does not rely on a single sensory characteristic such as shape, size, visual location, orientation, or sound. (Follow Success Criterion 1.3.3)
• Colour is not the only way to distinguish information or indicating anything else on a web page. (Follow Success Criterion 1.4.1)
• All text and images of text have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1, large-scale text has a contrast ratio of at least 3:1. (Follow Success Criterion 1.4.3)
• Web page does not lose quality when resized to 200%. (Follow Success Criterion 1.4.4)
• Text is used to convey information rather than images of text if it’s possible at all. (Follow Success Criterion 1.4.5)
• All functionality of the web page is available through keyboard without requiring specific timing for keystrokes. (Follow Success Criterion 2.1.1)
• All components that receive keyboard focus can be unfocused via the keyboard. (Follow Success Criterion 2.1.2)
• A mechanism exists to bypass reoccurring blocks on a web page, such as the navigation menus. (Follow Success Criterion 2.4.1)
• The web page has a title tag that describes the topic/purpose accurately. (Follow Success Criterion 2.4.2)
• Components receive focus in a predictable order. (Follow Success Criterion 2.4.3)
• All links describe its purpose accurately by itself or within the context of the links. (Follow Success Criterion 2.4.4)
• There are at least two ways to navigate from the web page. (Follow Success Criterion 2.4.5)
• Headings are used properly in a hierarchical fashion, and describe the topic accurately. (Follow Guideline 1.1 and Success Criterion 2.4.6)
• All elements that receive focus from keyboard navigation retains its focus indicator. (Follow Success Criterion 2.4.7)
• The html tag includes the lang=”en-ca” attribute. (Follow Success Criterion 3.1.1)
• A component doesn’t change the context of the web page when it receives focus from either the mouse or keyboard. (Follow Success Criterion 3.2.1)
• A user interface component (such as a drop-down box) doesn’t change the context of a web page when it’s changed. (Follow Success Criterion 3.2.2)
• Navigation menus that appear on multiple web pages appear in the same order. (Follow Success Criterion 3.2.3)
• Functional components (search boxes, etc.) that appear in multiple web pages are identified consistently. (Follow Success Criterion 3.2.4)
• Web page passes the W3C Validator. (Follow Success Criterion 4.1.1)

Form Checklist

Select techniques used for form features you have on your web page.

• Labels or title attributes are provided for every text field, radio button, check box, or any other type of user interface component. (Follow Guideline 1.1)
• Radio selection and checkbox options are grouped together using the fieldset tag with a proper legend tag inside of it. (Follow Success Criterion 1.3.1)
• select options are grouped together using the optgroup tag. (Follow Success Criterion 1.3.1)
• Input error is automatically detected and described to the user in text, with suggestions for corrections as well. (Follow Success Criterion 3.3.3)
• Labels include instructions on entering the necessary input, or instructions are described at the beginning of the form. (Follow Success Criterion 3.3.2)
• Required fields are labeled with the phrase “(required)”. (Follow Success Criterion 3.3.2)
• Checkboxes and radio buttons are placed before the labels and not after. (Follow Success Criterion 3.3.2)
• The page does not change context when any element in a form is changed (for example: the page doesn’t reload when selecting a different country to reflect different states/provinces). (Follow Success Criterion 3.2.2)

Animated Content Checklist

Select techniques used for animated features you have on your web page.

• If any moving/blinking/scrolling content starts automatically and lasts longer than 5 seconds, a mechanism exists to pause/stop/hide the content. (Follow Success Criterion 2.2.2)
• If a live feed such as an automatically updated Twitter feed or anything of the like is integrated into the page, there is a mechanism to pause/stop/hide the content or change the frequency of the updates. (Follow Success Criterion 2.2.2)
• There is absolutely no flashing content that flashes more than 3 times per second. (Follow Guideline 2.3)

Commitment Form Checklist

Select techniques used for commitment form features you have on your web page.

• A confirmation page exists when any irreversible user action is performed, such as a financial transaction, a legal commitment, a test grading system, or irreversible deletion of data. (Follow Success Criterion 3.3.4)

Autoplay Audio Content Checklist

Select techniques used for autoplay audio features you have on your web page.

• Audio content that plays automatically and lasts longer than 3 seconds has a mechanism to stop the audio or turn down the volume of the audio. (Follow Success Criterion 1.4.2)

Time Limit Checklist

Select techniques used for time-limit features you have on your web page.

• One of the following is true: (Follow Success Criterion 2.2.1)
• The user can turn off the time limit before encountering it
• The user can multiply the time limit by a factor of 10 before encountering it
• The user is warned before the time expires and is given at least 20 seconds to multiply the time limit by a factor of 10 with a simple action (for example: pressing the spacebar)
• The time limit is part of a real-time event (therefore no extension is possible)
• The time limit is essential (therefore no extension is possible)
• The time limit is longer than 20 hours (therefore no extension is needed)

Table Checklist

Select techniques used for table features you have on your web page.

• Follow WebAIM’s Tutorial on Accessible Tables
• A summary attribute exists in the table tag if the table is relaying complex information.
• th header cells exist and use either scope attributes or header attributes to convey relationships with cells.
• Cells that have coloured backgrounds to signify special properties are given a text alternative.
• th header cell tags are not used to visually style non-header cells.

CAPTCHA Checklist

Select techniques used for CAPTCHA you have on your web page.

• Follow Guideline 1.1
• A text alternative describes the purpose of the CAPTCHA image.
• Alternative forms of the CAPTCHA verification are provided (such as an audio CAPTCHA or a trivia question)

Visual-only Presentation Checklist

Select techniques used for visual-only features you have on your web page.

• For pre-recorded video media, a text alternative or an audio track exists that accurately describes everything presented in the visual presentation. (Follow Success Criterion 1.2.1)
• Exception: If video content is an alternative for text content, designers do not need to provide captions or descriptions.

Audio-Video Checklist

Select techniques used for audio-video features you have on your web page.

• Follow Guideline 1.2
• Captions are provided on the video track and/or is encoded through the audio track of the movie.
• An alternative to the movie is provided, such as a transcript which describes actions, cues, and what is spoken in the movie.

Audio-only Checklist

Select techniques used for audio-only features you have on your web page.

• For pre-recorded audio-only media, a text alternative exists that accurately describes everything presented in the audio presentation. (Follow Success Criterion 1.2.1)
• Exception: If audio content is an alternative for text content, you do not need to provide captions.

Multiple-language Checklist

Select techniques used for multi-language features you have on your web page.

• Phrases or passages in a language other than the main language of the page (e.g., French or Spanish quotes on a page otherwise in English) are programmatically tagged using the lang attribute. (Follow Success Criterion 3.1.2)