Where the failures are
- Theme: poor keyboard navigation, invisible focus, bad contrast
- Images: missing or useless alt text
- Forms: fields without proper labels
- Headings: chosen for size rather than structure
- Links: “click here” with no context
Fixing those five gets most sites most of the way. None of them requires an expert and all of them improve the site for everyone.
Test it in ten minutes
- Navigate the whole site with the keyboard only
- Check you can always see where the focus is
- Zoom to 200% and confirm nothing breaks
- Turn off images and see whether the page still makes sense
Alt text that helps
Describe what the image conveys, not what it is. “Engineer replacing a boiler flue” rather than “image” or a filename.
Decorative images should have empty alt text so screen readers skip them rather than announcing noise.
Headings are structure, not styling
One h1 per page, then h2 for sections and h3 beneath them. Never choose a heading level because of how big it looks.
Screen reader users navigate by headings, and a page with no structure is a page they cannot skim.
Choose an accessible theme
Retrofitting accessibility into a badly-built theme is far more work than choosing a good one. Test keyboard navigation on a theme demo before buying.
Themes advertised as accessibility-ready are usually a better starting point, though they still need checking.