ADA Compliance Checklist

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list but is hopefully a good starting place. Feel free to add.

To see the WCAG standards established by W3C go here

• Form fields should have a visible label, not just a placeholder

• Field formatting information should stay visible after beginning to edit

• Test page text with Text Only setting up to 200%

• Color contrast should meet WCAG standard

• Don’t rely on color to convey meaning, provide another way for the information to be understood

• All page content MUST be keyboard accessible

• Confirm that the tabbing order makes sense for the user experience

• Ensure that the user won't get stuck in an infinite tabbing loop

• Header tags should not be used for styling alone. They should add meaning to the page hierarchy. Add styling to get different text sizes and styling

• Use provided HTML semantic tags whenever possible. This makes it much easier for screen readers

• Avoid using small targets (i.e. be sure that the text associated with a checkbox selects that checkbox)

• Not everyone can use drag and drop or similar components. Be sure to provide an alternative way to modify the information

• Make sure all page actions are visible. (i.e. don’t rely on a mouse hover to show that an image is a carousel)

• Page titles should go from specific to general information. They should help the user know what the page is about, not just what the website is.

• Audio and visual content that conveys meaning must have a text alternative. This could be an alt tag description, closed captioning, a transcript, etc.

• Media that has meaning that is already conveyed can have a blank alt tag

• Look at content proximity, both for auditory content and visually. Related information should be close together. Those who need to zoom in may not be able to see a modal or submit button that is on another part of the page

• Don’t use auto-advancing fields. They cause issues for accessibility

• Use plain language and provide full versions of acronyms

For a more comprehensive checklist from WebAIM go here