A quick website accessibility check you can do yourself, step by step

As of 11 October 2026. We took the screenshots on our own website in Chrome and checked contrast with WebAIM’s free Contrast Checker. Requirements below refer to WCAG 2.2 level AA, the current version of the W3C guidelines and the usual benchmark for business websites.

Most accessibility problems are invisible when you use a site the way you always do. They show up as soon as you put the mouse away, zoom in or look at your colours with a contrast tool. Pick the three pages that matter most to your business, usually the home page, your main service or product page, and the page where people book, pay or contact you. Then work through the steps below.

What you need

• a laptop or desktop with a keyboard;
• a current browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari);
• the free WebAIM Contrast Checker at webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker;
• somewhere to note what you find.

Step 1: Put the mouse away and press Tab

Click in the address bar, then press Tab. Each press moves the keyboard focus to the next link, button or field. Shift + Tab moves back.

On a well-built site, the first Tab reveals a “Skip to content” link. It lets keyboard and screen reader users jump past the menu that repeats on every page. WCAG requires a way to bypass repeated blocks (success criterion 2.4.1, level A).

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Step 2: Can you always see where you are?

Keep pressing Tab. Every link and button should get a clear outline, underline or colour change. This is the visible focus indicator (2.4.7, AA).

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As you go, watch for three things:

• The outline never disappears. If you lose track of where you are, that’s a fail.
• The order makes sense. Focus should follow the reading order, top to bottom, left to right.
• Nothing covers it. A sticky header, cookie banner or chat bubble mustn’t completely hide the focused item. This is a new criterion in WCAG 2.2 (2.4.11, AA).

Step 3: Use menus and controls with the keyboard only

Everything you can do with a mouse should work from the keyboard (2.1.1, level A). Try:

• drop-down menus: Enter or Space opens them, Escape closes them;
• buttons and links: Enter does the same as a click;
• date pickers, sliders and select lists: arrow keys change the value;
• pop-ups and dialogs: Escape or a keyboard-reachable close button dismisses them.

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The worst result is a keyboard trap: you tab into a widget, often an embedded booking calendar or a chat, and can’t tab out again. For someone who can’t use a mouse, that’s the end of the booking.

Step 4: Zoom to 200%

Press Ctrl and + (on a Mac, Cmd and +) until your browser shows 200%. Text must be resizable to 200% without losing content or functionality (1.4.4, AA).

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Check that:

• text wraps instead of running off the right edge;
• you never need to scroll sideways to read a sentence;
• the menu still opens;
• buttons and fields don’t overlap.

For a stricter test, zoom to 400%. WCAG’s reflow criterion (1.4.10, AA) expects content to work without two-way scrolling at a width of 320 CSS pixels, which is roughly what 400% looks like on a standard laptop screen.

Step 5: Check that every form field has a label

Tab into your contact, booking or checkout form. Each field needs a visible label, such as “Name”, “Email” or “Message” (3.3.2, level A).

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Grey placeholder text inside the field is not a label. It disappears as soon as someone starts typing and isn’t always announced by screen readers. A quick test: click on the label text. If the cursor jumps into the field, the label is correctly connected.

Step 6: Measure colour contrast

WCAG sets these minimums at level AA:

Element	Minimum contrast
normal text	4.5:1
large text (18 pt, or 14 pt bold, and above)	3:1
input borders, icons, button states	3:1

Get your colours from your brand guidelines or with the colour picker in your browser’s developer tools (F12). Enter the text colour under Foreground and the background colour under Background in the WebAIM Contrast Checker.

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Our body text scores 16.77:1, well above the minimum. Light grey text is a common trouble spot. Here’s #9A9A9A on white:

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At 2.81:1 it fails even the large-text threshold. Look out for light grey in small print, image captions, form placeholders and text placed over photos.

Step 7: Look at image descriptions and link text

Images that carry information need a text alternative that a screen reader can read out (1.1.1, level A). Purely decorative images should have an empty description so that screen readers skip them.

To check one image, right-click it, choose Inspect and look for alt=”…” in the highlighted code. Then ask whether the description does the same job as the image:

• “image” or “IMG_2041.jpg” says nothing;
• “Logo” on a logo that links home is better written as “[Business name] — home page”;
• “Double room with a sea-view balcony” in a B&B gallery is useful;
• no alt attribute at all is an error, and a screen reader may read out the file name instead.

For pages with many images, the free WAVE tool from WebAIM (wave.webaim.org) flags images without alt text. It can’t judge whether a description makes sense; that part is up to you.

While you’re there, read your link and button text on its own. Screen reader users often move through a list of links. Five links called “Read more” tell them nothing. WCAG expects the purpose of a link to be clear from its text or its context (2.4.4, level A). Icon-only buttons, like a magnifying glass or a basket, need an accessible name too.

Recording what you find

A simple table is enough:

Page	Step	Problem	Impact
Checkout	2. Focus	no visible outline on the “Pay” button	blocks keyboard users from paying
Contact	5. Labels	phone field has placeholder text only	harder to complete the form
Home	6. Contrast	grey caption at 2.8:1	hard to read

Fix whatever blocks a purchase, booking or enquiry first: keyboard traps, missing labels and invisible focus.

This check leaves out a lot, including screen reader testing, captions, error messages and time limits. To go one step further, turn on VoiceOver on a Mac (Cmd + F5) or install the free NVDA screen reader on Windows and try to send your contact form.

The legal side, briefly

In Ireland, the European Accessibility Act applies to e-commerce and certain other consumer services, with an exemption for services provided by microenterprises. In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 requires reasonable adjustments for disabled people. We explain both in our guide to website accessibility in Ireland and the UK. This is not legal advice.

How we can help

Our accessibility audit goes through your key customer journeys with a keyboard, a screen reader, zoom and high-contrast mode. We report against WCAG with priorities, fix what blocks customers and test again. We work remotely with businesses in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

You’ll get a free, fixed-price quote within 24 hours, weekends and public holidays included.