Website stewardship guide 07
A customer should be able to read your services, use the menu, and request help with the tools and settings they rely on. Accessibility work finds the barriers in those tasks and keeps new content or updates from bringing them back.
← All website stewardship guidanceChoose essential tasks
Check text and controls
Try different inputs
Evaluate barriers
Retest changes
Why this matters
Some visitors navigate with a keyboard or screen reader. Others enlarge text, use speech input, or need captions. A menu that cannot be opened without a mouse or a form with unclear errors can prevent them from contacting your business. These barriers belong in the ordinary repair queue.
You can do a useful first check without being an accessibility specialist. A full assessment needs broader testing and informed judgment, including input from people with disabilities where practical. Ask your provider to explain the chosen technical standard, the work completed, and the barriers still outstanding.
Responsible practices
Choose tasks such as finding a service, reading contact details, completing an inquiry, and making a booking. Include mobile menus, confirmation messages, documents, and third-party destinations. A readable home page does not establish that the rest of the journey is usable.
Descriptive headings, meaningful link text, visible field labels, and native buttons give visitors useful signposts. Your provider should implement those controls so assistive technology can identify their purpose and state. Custom menus and dialogs need deliberate keyboard and focus behavior; visual appearance alone does not supply it.
Use appropriate text alternatives for informative images and captions for meaningful video audio. Keep text readable when enlarged, avoid relying only on color to explain a status, and allow reduced motion where needed. Check documents and embedded content too, especially when they contain essential prices, instructions, or forms.
Explain required information before submission. Use persistent labels, clear instructions, and error messages that identify the field and the problem. Preserve valid entries when something needs correction. Your provider should test keyboard use, screen-reader feedback, and the successful submission as well as the error states.
Automated checks can catch some recurring issues; knowledgeable human review is still needed. Record findings, assign repairs, and test again after content, navigation, form, or platform changes. Provide a clear feedback route so a person who encounters a barrier can reach the business.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers businesses open to the public under Title III. The Department of Justice has not adopted a technical web standard for these businesses. WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA is the common reference. A separate 2024 Justice Department rule requires WCAG 2.1 AA for state and local government websites, not private businesses. Businesses do receive demand letters and lawsuits over website barriers. Confirm with a qualified attorney for your situation.
Worked example
Illustrative owner-led check based on the kinds of tasks covered by W3C's Easy Checks. Passing it does not establish full accessibility or legal compliance.
Report the task that failed in everyday language. Your provider can translate that observation into a technical issue and verify the repair.
Accessibility
Use the keyboard to reach your menu, important links, and inquiry form. Note anywhere you lose track of the selected control or cannot continue.
Enlarge the page and check whether essential text and controls remain usable.
Submit a safe test with a required field missing, then try correcting it.
Send the provider specific examples of barriers, including the page, device, and task you were attempting.
Evaluate the agreed WCAG 2.2 target across representative pages, states, and complete customer journeys.
Combine automated checks with manual keyboard, zoom, screen-reader, content, and media review, involving people with disabilities where practical.
Prioritize blockers, document unresolved issues and suitable workarounds, and retest fixes rather than presenting a scanner score as a complete evaluation.
Avoid these failures
Good website care lowers risk, but no provider can guarantee uninterrupted service.
Questions business owners ask
WCAG 2.2 Level AA is a sensible target for most small-business sites. WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the W3C's technical standard. A contract or specific law may name a different version, so record the target you agree with your provider.
No. Automated checks find some issues, but human evaluation is needed for content, interaction, and complete processes. Ask what was manually tested and what remains outside the assessment.
No. A toolbar or overlay may help with a specific preference, but it does not fix the underlying pages, forms, and documents. In 2025 the FTC finalized an order requiring accessiBe to pay $1 million over claims that its AI widget could make any website WCAG-compliant. Ask for proof that visitors can complete the actual tasks.
Use descriptive headings and links, appropriate image alternatives, readable text, and accessible documents or media. Follow the authoring guidance agreed with your provider and flag unfamiliar components for review.
Primary guidance
Plan the next step