How to tell if your website is accessible (and why it matters)

An accessible website is one that people can use whatever their situation is. Some people use a screen reader because they can't see the page. Some can't use a mouse and get around with a keyboard. Some have trouble telling certain colors apart, or reading small gray text. And some people are just on a phone in bright sun. Making a site easier for the first group usually helps all of them.

I'm Tyler, a student here in Gainesville, and I build websites and offer accessibility help. That means I care about this, and it also means I have something to sell, so I'll be upfront about that. Everything below is a check you can do yourself, with no special tools. It won't catch everything, but it's a good start.

One more thing before we begin. I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice. If you have questions about legal requirements for your business, talk to a lawyer.

1. Look at your images and their descriptions

Screen readers can't see pictures. They read a short text description instead, called alt text. If an image has no description, a person using a screen reader gets nothing, or just a file name.

How to check: open your website editor, click on a photo, and look for a field called "alt text," "description" or something similar. If a photo carries information, like a menu, a sign or a product, it should have a short description of what it shows. If an image is purely decoration, it's fine to leave it blank.

2. Check your colors

Light gray text on a white background looks stylish and is hard to read. The same goes for white text on a pale photo. The guidelines that accessibility checks are based on, called WCAG, set a minimum contrast between text and its background.

How to check: look at your site on your phone, outside if you can. If you have to squint, so will your visitors. For a closer look, a free contrast checker, like the one from WebAIM, lets you compare two colors. Pay extra attention to buttons, links and small text.

3. Try your site with only the keyboard

This one is a favorite of mine because it takes a minute. Put your mouse aside and press the Tab key.

• Can you reach every link, button and menu item?
• Can you always see where you are on the page? There should be a visible outline or highlight on whatever is selected.
• Can you open a menu and close it again?
• Can you press Enter to use a button and Shift plus Tab to go backward?
• Does a pop-up ever trap you so that you can't get out?

If you get stuck, someone who can't use a mouse gets stuck too.

4. Test your forms

Forms are where a lot of businesses lose people. Try these things on your contact form:

• Does every field have a visible label? A hint inside the box that vanishes when you start typing doesn't count, because people forget what it said.
• Are required fields marked?
• If you leave something out on purpose, does the error message say what's wrong in words, not just a red box?
• Can you finish the whole thing with the keyboard?

5. Check your headings and your links

Headings are like the outline of a page. There should be one main heading, then smaller headings under it in order. Screen reader users often jump from heading to heading to find what they need.

Links should make sense by themselves. "Click here" and "Read more" tell a screen reader user nothing when the links are read out as a list. "See our prices" or "Read about our cleaning services" says where it goes.

6. Look at your PDFs and documents

Lots of small businesses post a menu, a price list or a form as a PDF. A PDF can be fine, but there's a common problem: some are just a photo of a page. The words are part of the picture, so a screen reader can't read them.

How to check: open the PDF and try to highlight a sentence with your cursor. If you can't select any words, it's probably an image of text. Documents made in Word or PowerPoint help when they use real headings, descriptions on images and clear link text.

Why it matters

Mostly it's about being usable for the people who visit your site. If someone can't read your hours, can't fill out your form or can't tell what your buttons do, they leave. Fixing these things also tends to make a site clearer for everybody.

Where to get help

You can only find so much by eye. Automated tools catch many common issues but not everything, and a person needs to look at the rest. My Accessibility service checks your website and your PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files and sends you a plain-English report with recommended changes. For documents, I can make corrected copies with suggested changes, and you review them before you use them. It's recommendations only. I don't certify anything.

Anyone can scan a single web page or a document (PDF, Word, PowerPoint or Excel) for free. Try the free scanner. The scanner gives automated recommendations only. It does not certify accessibility or legal compliance.