Website Accessibility Compliance: ADA and WCAG 2.2

What does website accessibility compliance actually mean?

An accessible website is one that people with disabilities can use: people who are blind and use screen readers, people who navigate with a keyboard or switch device instead of a mouse, people with low vision or color blindness, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and people with cognitive or motor disabilities.

"Compliance" usually means measuring your site against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), published by the W3C. The current version is WCAG 2.2, and the level most organizations target is AA. (source)

You will also hear other names: the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), Section 508 (US federal agencies and their vendors), and AODA (Ontario). These are laws and policies. WCAG is the technical yardstick most of them point to.

A note before we go further: this page is a practical guide, not legal advice. If you have received a demand letter or have questions about your legal obligations, talk to an attorney who handles accessibility law. We can help you fix the website. We can't tell you what a court will decide.

Why accessibility matters for a small business

Leave the legal question aside for a moment. There are three plain business reasons to care.

1. More people can buy from you. A meaningful share of adults live with a disability. If they can't complete your contact form, they call your competitor.
2. Everyone benefits. Captions help people watching on mute. Good contrast helps anyone on a phone in sunlight. Clear forms reduce abandoned inquiries for every visitor.
3. It overlaps with good SEO. Semantic headings, descriptive alt text, meaningful link text and clean HTML make your content easier for search engines and AI systems to parse.

The WCAG principles in plain English

WCAG is organized around four principles, often shortened to POUR.

• Perceivable. People can see or hear the content in some form. Images have alt text, videos have captions, text has enough contrast.
• Operable. People can use every control. Everything works with a keyboard, nothing traps focus, nothing flashes dangerously, and there is enough time to complete tasks.
• Understandable. Content and interfaces behave predictably. Forms have clear labels and helpful error messages, and navigation stays consistent.
• Robust. The code works with assistive technology. Proper HTML elements, correct ARIA where needed, and names and roles that screen readers can announce.

What changed in WCAG 2.2

WCAG 2.2 adds new success criteria on top of 2.1. The ones small business sites most often miss:

• Focus not obscured. When someone tabs to a link or button, it shouldn't be hidden behind a sticky header, cookie banner or chat widget.
• Target size (minimum). Small tap targets that sit close together are hard to hit. Buttons and links need enough size or spacing.
• Dragging movements. If something works by dragging (a slider, a reorder list), there must be a simple click or tap alternative.
• Consistent help. If you offer help (phone number, chat, contact link), it should appear in the same place across pages.
• Redundant entry. Don't make people type the same information twice in one process, like re-entering a shipping address as a billing address.
• Accessible authentication. Logins shouldn't depend on memory puzzles or transcribing codes without allowing paste or a password manager.

The most common accessibility problems we find

Most small business sites fail on the same handful of issues. The good news: they are fixable.

• Missing or useless alt text. "IMG_4032.jpg" or "image" tells a screen reader user nothing.
• Low color contrast. Light gray text on white is the classic offender. WCAG AA asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
• Broken keyboard navigation. Menus that only open on hover, modals you can't close with Escape, focus outlines removed for "aesthetics."
• Unlabeled form fields. Placeholder text that disappears when you type is not a label.
• Vague link text. Ten links that all say "Learn more" are meaningless out of context.
• Skipped heading levels. Headings chosen for size instead of structure make pages hard to navigate by screen reader.
• Video without captions, and auto-playing media with no pause control.
• PDFs that are scanned images, with no readable text.

How our accessibility audit works

Automated tools catch only part of the problem. A real audit combines them with human testing.

1. Automated scan

We run automated checkers across your key templates to catch the mechanical issues quickly: missing alt attributes, contrast failures, missing form labels, empty links.

2. Manual keyboard testing

We navigate every key flow (menu, forms, booking, checkout) with only a keyboard. Can you reach everything? Can you see where focus is? Can you get out of every pop-up?

3. Screen reader testing

We test key pages with common screen readers to hear what a blind user hears. This catches issues no scanner will, like confusing reading order or controls with no announced name.

4. Content review

We review headings, link text, alt text quality, captions, documents and form error messages.

5. Prioritized report

You get a list of issues tied to specific WCAG criteria, ranked by impact on real users, with plain-language explanations and recommended fixes.

Fixing issues and staying compliant

An audit nobody acts on is just a document. We fix issues in the code and content, including:

• Alt text written for meaning, not keywords
• Color and typography adjustments that keep your brand intact
• Keyboard and focus fixes, including visible focus styles
• Proper ARIA where native HTML isn't enough (and removing ARIA that makes things worse)
• Form labels, instructions and error handling
• Captions and transcripts for video
• An accessibility statement that explains your commitment, the standard you target, and how people can report problems

Then we keep it that way. Every new page, image and form is a chance to introduce a new barrier, so we offer ongoing monitoring as part of our website management service.

What about accessibility overlays?

You have probably seen ads for widgets that promise compliance with one line of code. They add a toolbar on top of your site but don't fix the underlying HTML. Many disability advocates and screen reader users report that overlays interfere with the assistive technology they already use. We recommend fixing the site itself.

Quick self-check: five minutes, no tools

1. Put your mouse away and press Tab through your homepage. Can you see where you are, and reach every link and button?
2. Fill out your contact form with the keyboard only.
3. Zoom your browser to 200%. Does the page still work without horizontal scrolling?
4. Turn on captions for your main video. Are there any?
5. Read your link text out of context. Does each one make sense on its own?

If any of those failed, you have work to do.

Building it in from the start

Accessibility is cheapest when it is part of the build, not a retrofit. Every site we deliver through website redesign or Webflow development is built toward WCAG 2.2 AA from the first template.

Back to website development, or book a free call to talk through an audit.