0.3 Checklist

Checklist

Basic structure check

Check that the information makes sense when read in the order it is shown; for example, headings are right above the information they apply to.
Check that blocks of information have clear headings (see also the Headings section above). When navigation, main content, and other sections have good headings, it's easier for people to find their way around the information.

Content

Use plain language and avoid figures of speech, idioms, and complicated metaphors.

3.1.5 READING LEVEL Write content at an 8th grade reading level.

Make sure that button, a, and label element content is unique and descriptive.

1.3.1 INFO AND RELATIONSHIPS Terms like “click here” and “read more” do not provide any context. Some people navigate using a list of all buttons or links on a page or view. When using this mode, the terms indicate what will happen if navigated to or activated.

Use left-aligned text for left-to-right (LTR) languages, and right-aligned text for right-to-left (RTL) languages.

1.4.8 VISUAL PRESENTATION Centre-aligned or justified text is difficult to read.

Links and buttons

Check link text is clear and informative (without generic text such as “click here”.) and is announced by screen readers.
Check all icons that are buttons have a clear title text which is announced by a screen reader.
Check buttons can be activated using the keyboard Space bar and Enter keys.
Check links can be activated using the keyboard Return key and Space bar.
Check that buttons are announced as buttons by screen reader software.
Check that the button text is clear and informative to the action it will carry out.

Modals

Does the modal receive keyboard focus when it opens?
Are parent window elements (links, headings, fields etc.) not seen when modal window is active?
Focus point should go back to where it began when closing the modal.

Global code

Validate your HTML.

4.1.1 PARSING Valid HTML helps to provide a consistent, expected experience across all browsers and assistive technology.

Use a lang attribute on the html element.

3.1.1 LANGUAGE OF PAGE This helps assistive technology such as screen readers to pronounce content correctly.

Provide a unique title for each page or view.

2.4.2 PAGE TITLED The title element, contained in the document's head element, is often the first piece of information announced by assistive technology. This helps tell people what page or view they are going to start navigating.

Ensure that viewport zoom is not disabled.

1.4.4 RESIZE TEXT Some people need to increase the size of text to a point where they can read it. Do not stop them from doing this, even for web apps with a native app-like experience. Even native apps should respect Operating System settings for resizing text.

Use landmark elements to indicate important content regions.

4.1.2 NAME, ROLE, VALUE Landmark regions help communicate the layout and important areas of a page or view and can allow quick access to these regions. For example, use the nav element to wrap a site's navigation, and the main element to contain the primary content of a page.

Ensure a linear content flow.

2.4.3 FOCUS ORDER Remove tabindex attribute values that aren't either 0 or -1. Elements that are inherently focusable, such as links or button elements, do not require a tabindex. Elements that are not inherently focusable should not have a tabindex applied to them outside of very specific use cases.

Avoid using the autofocus attribute.

2.4.3 FOCUS ORDER People who are blind or who have low vision may be disoriented when focus is moved without their permission. Additionally, autofocus can be problematic for people with motor control disabilities, as it may create extra work for them to navigate out from the autofocused area and to other locations on the page/view.

Remove session timeouts.

2.2.1 TIMING ADJUSTABLE If you cannot, let the person using your site know the timeout exists ahead of time, and provide significant notice before the timer runs out.

Remove title attribute tooltips.

4.1.2 NAME, ROLE, VALUE The title attribute has numerous issues and should not be used if the information provided is important for all people to access. An acceptable use for the title attribute would be labelling an iframe element to indicate what content it contains.

Keyboard

Make sure there is a visible focus style for interactive elements that are navigated to via keyboard input.

2.4.7 FOCUS VISIBLE Can a person navigating with a keyboard, switch, voice control, or screen reader see where they currently are on the page?

Check to see that keyboard focus order matches the visual layout.

1.3.2 MEANINGFUL SEQUENCE Can a person navigating with a keyboard or screen reader move around the page in a predictable way?

Remove invisible focusable elements.

2.4.3 FOCUS ORDER Remove the ability to focus on elements that are not presently meant to be discoverable. This includes things like inactive drop-down menus, off screen navigations, or modals.

Tab to all: Check that you can tab to all the elements, including links, form fields, buttons, and media player controls.
Tab away: Check that you can tab away from all elements that you can tab into.
Tab order: Check that the tab order follows the logical reading order (e.g., for left-to-right, top to bottom) in sequence.
All functionality by keyboard: Check that you can do everything with the keyboard; that is, you don't need the mouse to activate actions, options, visible changes, and other functionality.
Drop-down lists: Check that after you tab into a drop-down list, you can use the arrow keys to move through all the options without triggering an action.
Image links: Check that when images are links, they have clear visual focus and can be activated using the keyboard (usually by pressing the Enter key).

Images

Make sure that all img elements have an alt attribute.

1.1.1 NON-TEXT CONTENT alt attributes (alt text) give a description of an image for people who may not be able to view them. When an alt attribute isn't present on an image, a screen reader may announce the image's file name and path instead. This fails to communicate the image’s content. Do all meaningful images have an alt text that is clear, formative and translated across multiple languages?

If an image is decorative that does not require a descriptive message, it still needs an alt tag of (ALT=””). This is so a screen reader will understand that image is just decorative.

1.1.1 NON-TEXT CONTENT Null alt attributes are also sometimes known as empty alt attributes. They are made by including no information between the opening and closing quotes of an alt attribute. Decorative images do not communicate information that is required to understand the website's overall meaning. Historically they were used for flourishes and spacer gif images but tend to be less relevant for modern websites and web apps.

Provide a text alternative for complex images such as charts, graphs, and maps.

1.1.1 NON-TEXT CONTENT Is there a plain text which lists points on the map or sections of a flowchart? Describe all visible information. This includes graph axes, data points and labels, and the overall point the graphic is communicating.

For images containing text, make sure the alt description includes the image's text.

1.1.1 NON-TEXT CONTENT For example, the FedEx logo should have an alt value of “FedEx.”

Headings

Use heading elements to introduce content.

2.4.6 HEADINGS OR LABELS Heading elements construct a document outline and should not be used for purely visual design.

Use only one h1 element per page or view.

2.4.6 HEADINGS OR LABELS The h1 element should be used to communicate the high-level purpose of the page or view. Do not use the h1 element for a heading that does not change between pages or views (for example, the site's name).

Heading elements should be written in a logical sequence.

2.4.6 HEADINGS OR LABELS The order of heading elements should descend, based on the “depth” of the content. For example, a h4 element should not appear on a page before the first h3 element declaration. A tool such as headingsMap can help you evaluate this.

Don't skip heading levels.

2.4.6 HEADINGS OR LABELS For example, don't jump from a h2 to a h4, skipping a h3 element. If heading levels are being skipped for a specific visual treatment, use CSS classes instead.

Lists

Use list elements (ol, ul, and dl elements) for list content.

1.3.1 INFO AND RELATIONSHIPS This may include sections of related content, items visually displayed in a grid-like layout, or sibling a elements.

Controls

Use the a element for links.

1.3.1 INFO AND RELATIONSHIPS Links should always have a href attribute, even when used in Single Page Applications (SPAs). Without a href attribute, the link will not be properly exposed to assistive technology. An example of this would be a link that uses an onclick event, in place of a href attribute.

Ensure that links are recognizable as links.

1.4.1 USE OF COLOR Colour alone is not sufficient to indicate the presence of a link. Underlines are a popular and commonly understood way to communicate the presence of link content.

Ensure that controls have focus states.

2.4.7 FOCUS VISIBLE Visible focus styles help people determine which interactive element has keyboard focus. This lets them know that they can perform actions like activating a button or navigating to a link's destination.

Use the button element for buttons.

1.3.1 INFO AND RELATIONSHIPS Buttons are used to submit data or perform an on-screen action which does not shift keyboard focus. You can add type="button" to a button element to prevent the browser from attempting to submit form information when activated.

Provide a skip link and make sure that it is visible when focused.

2.4.1 BYPASS BLOCKS A skip link can be used to provide quick access to the main content of a page or view. This allows a person to easily bypass globally repeated content such as a website's primary navigation, or persistent search widget.

Identify links that open in a new tab or window.

G201: GIVING USERS ADVANCED WARNING WHEN OPENING A NEW WINDOW Ideally, avoid links that open in a new tab or window. If a link does, ensure the link's behaviour will be communicated in a way that is apparent to all users. Doing this will help people understand what will happen before activating the link. While this technique is technically not required for compliance, it is an often-cited area of frustration for many different kinds of assistive technology users.

Tables

Use the table element to describe tabular data.

1.3.1 INFO AND RELATIONSHIPS Do you need to display data in rows and columns? Use the table element.

Use the th element for table headers (with appropriate scope attributes).

4.1.1 PARSING Depending on how complex your table is, you may also consider using scope="col" for column headers, and scope="row" for row headers. Many different kinds of assistive technology still use the scope attribute to help them understand and describe the structure of a table.

Use the caption element to provide a title for the table.

2.4.6 HEADINGS OR LABELS The table's caption should describe what kind of information the table contains.

Forms

All inputs in a form are associated with a corresponding label element.

3.2.2 ON INPUT Use a for/id pairing to guarantee the highest level of browser/assistive technology support.

Use fieldset and legend elements where appropriate.

1.3.1 INFO AND RELATIONSHIPS Does your form contain multiple sections of related inputs? Use fieldset to group them, and legend to provide a label for what this section is for.

Inputs use autocomplete where appropriate.

1.3.5 IDENTIFY INPUT PURPOSE Providing a mechanism to help people more quickly, easily, and accurately fill in form fields that ask for common information (for example, name, address, phone number).

Make sure that form input errors are displayed in list above the form after submission.

3.3.1 ERROR IDENTIFICATION This provides a way for assistive technology users to quickly have a high-level understanding of what issues are present in the form. This is especially important for larger forms with many inputs. Make sure that each reported error also has a link to the corresponding field with invalid input.

Associate input error messaging with the input it corresponds to.

3.3.1 ERROR IDENTIFICATION Techniques such as using aria-describedby allow people who use assistive technology to more easily understand the difference between the input and the error message associated with it.

Make sure that error, warning, and success states are not visually communicated by just colour.

1.4.1 USE OF COLOR People who are colour blind, who have other low vision conditions, or different cultural understandings for colour may not see the state change or understand what kind of feedback the state represents if colour is the only indicator.

Media

Make sure that media does not autoplay.

1.4.2 AUDIO CONTROL Unexpected video and audio can be distracting and disruptive, especially for certain kinds of cognitive disability such as ADHD. Certain kinds of autoplaying video and animation can be a trigger for vestibular and seizure disorders.

Ensure that media controls use appropriate markup.

1.3.1 INFO AND RELATIONSHIPS Examples include making sure an audio mute button has a pressed toggle state when active, or that a volume slider uses <input type="range">

Check to see that all media can be paused.

2.1.1 KEYBOARD Provide a global pause function on any media element. If the device has a keyboard, ensure that pressing the Space key can pause playback. Make sure you also don't interfere with the Space key's ability to scroll the page/view when not focusing on a form control.

Video

Confirm the presence of captions.

1.2.2 CAPTIONS Captions allow a person who cannot hear the audio content of a video to still understand its content.

Remove seizure triggers.

2.3.1 THREE FLASHES OR BELOW THRESHOLD Certain kinds of strobing or flashing animations will trigger seizures.

Check controls have alt text.

Audio

Confirm that transcripts are available.

1.1.1 NON-TEXT CONTENT Transcripts allow people who cannot hear to still understand the audio content. It also allows people to digest audio content at a pace that is comfortable to them.

Check controls have alt text.

Appearance

Check your content in specialized browsing modes.

1.4.1 USE OF COLOR Activate modes such as Windows High Contrast or Inverted Colours. Is your content still legible? Are your icons, borders, links, form fields, and other content still present? Can you distinguish foreground content from the background?

Increase text size to 200%.

1.4.4 RESIZE TEXT Is the content still readable? Does increasing the text size cause content to overlap?
Do all buttons, form fields and other controls stay visible and usable? Make sure horizontal scrolling is not required to read sentences or "blocks of text". Check text does not become pixelated. Is the page responsive? Can you access all features across all supported breakpoints.

Double-check that good proximity between content is maintained.

1.3.3 SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS Use the straw test to ensure people who depend on screen zoom software can still easily discover all content.

Make sure colour isn't the only way information is conveyed.

1.4.1 USE OF COLOUR Can you still see where links are among body content if everything is grayscale?

Use a simple, straightforward, and consistent layout.

1.4.10 REFLOW A complicated layout can be confusing to understand and use.

Animation

Ensure animations are subtle and not do not flash too much.

2.3.1 THREE FLASHES OR BELOW THRESHOLD Certain kinds of strobing or flashing animations will trigger seizures. Others may be distracting and disruptive, especially for certain kinds of cognitive disability such as ADHD.

Provide a mechanism to pause background video.

2.2.2 PAUSE, STOP, HIDE Background video can be distracting, especially if content is placed over it. Check if there is any moving, blinking, or scrolling information that starts automatically and lasts more than five seconds. If there is, check that there is a way for the user to pause, stop, or hide the movement.

Make sure all animation obeys the prefers-reduced-motion media query.

2.3.3 ANIMATION FROM INTERACTIONS Remove animations when the “reduce motion” setting is activated. If an animation is necessary to communicate meaning for a concept, slow its duration down.

Check if there is any auto-updated information (such as a trending graph). If there is, check that there is a way for the user to pause, stop, or hide the updated information, or for the user to control the frequency of the update.
Are there alternatives for time-based media (transcript, captions etc)

Colour Contrast

Check the contrast for all normal-sized text.

1.4.3 CONTRAST Level AA compliance requires a contrast ratio of 4.5:1.

Check the contrast for all large-sized text.

1.4.3 CONTRAST Level AA compliance requires a contrast ratio of 3:1.

Check the contrast for all icons.

1.4.11 NON-TEXT CONTRAST Level AA compliance requires a contrast ratio of 3.0:1.

Check the contrast of borders for input elements (text input, radio buttons, checkboxes, etc.).

1.4.11 NON-TEXT CONTRAST Level AA compliance requires a contrast ratio of 3.0:1.

Check text that overlaps images or video.

1.4.3 CONTRAST Is text still legible?

Check custom selection colours.

1.4.3 CONTRAST Is the colour contrast you set in your selection CSS declaration sufficient? Otherwise someone may not be able read it if they highlight it.

Check hover state has sufficient contrast or is underlined.
Check colour is not used as the sole means of conveying information on the page (is a colour shape backed up with text?).

Forms, labels

Check that form fields have descriptive labels.
Check that labels are readout by screen reader when tabbing through form fields.
When an error dialog is dismissed, screen reader automatically returns to the empty field.
If a required field is left blank, screen reader reads the error text and keyboard focus shifts to that field.
Mandatory fields are visually indicated and marked up correctly so they are announced as required by screen readers
Notify the user when context changes unexpectedly on a form, such as clicking on a check box makes a new field appear
Check that all form controls are keyboard accessible, including checking that you can get to all items in any drop-down lists.
Check that every form control has a label associated with it using 'label', 'for', and 'id'.
Check that 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, as shown in the labels checks below.
General instructions should usually be at the top of the form or the section they relate to.
Check that required formats, such as dates (date-month-year in the format DD/MM/YYYY), are included in the marked-up label.
Check that clear and specific guidance is provided to help people understand and fix any error messages. If the error concerns a format such as date, time, or address, check that the correct format is clearly explained.
Check that the errors are easily findable.
Check that when an error message is triggered the fields without errors are still populated with the data the user entered. People should not have to re-enter all the information in the form, except for some sensitive data such as credit card numbers.
System information banners (confirmation, error and API banners) - are they clear and informative and are they automatically announced by a screen reader software when they appear?

Mobile / Touch

Check that the site can be rotated to any orientation.

1.3.4 ORIENTATION Does the site only allow portrait orientation?

Remove horizontal scrolling.

1.4.10 REFLOW Requiring someone to scroll horizontally can be difficult for some, irritating for all.

Button and link icons can be activated with ease.

2.5.5 TARGET SIZE It's good to make sure things like hamburger menus, social icons, gallery viewers, and other touch controls are usable by a wide range of hand and stylus sizes.

Ensure sufficient space between clickable items in order to provide a scroll area.

2.4.1 BYPASS BLOCKS Some people who experience motor control issues such as hand tremors may have a very difficult time scrolling past clickable items which feature zero spacing.