The complete WCAG
accessibility checklist
A practical, print-friendly PDF with 20+ checks covering all four WCAG principles. Built for developers, designers, and content teams who want to audit their site systematically.
- WCAG A and AA
- 20+ checks
- Print-friendly
- ADA + EAA relevant
Organised around the WCAG principles
Each section maps directly to a WCAG principle. Every criterion includes a plain-English description and the official success criterion reference.
Perceivable
Can everyone access your content, regardless of how they experience it?
- Text alternatives for all images and media
- Colour contrast for text and UI components
- Captions and audio descriptions for video
- Content that reflows at 400% zoom
Operable
Can visitors navigate and use every part of your site without a mouse?
- Full keyboard navigation and visible focus
- No content that flashes more than 3 times per second
- Skip links and consistent navigation
- Enough time to read and complete tasks
Understandable
Is your site’s content and behaviour predictable and easy to interpret?
- Clear error messages that explain how to fix mistakes
- Consistent page layout and navigation
- Language of the page declared in code
- Labels and instructions for all form fields
Robust
Can your content be reliably interpreted by current and future assistive technologies?
- Valid, well-formed HTML markup
- Name, role, and value exposed for all UI components
- Status messages conveyed without focus change
- Compatible with assistive technology parsing
Built for everyone working on web accessibility
Whether you’re reviewing a site before launch or bringing an existing site into compliance, this checklist gives your team a shared starting point.
Developers
Use it as a pre-launch technical audit. Each criterion maps to a concrete code-level check, from ARIA attributes to keyboard traps to focus management.
Designers
Catch colour contrast failures, missing focus indicators, and layout issues before they reach production. Use it as a design review companion.
Content teams
Check alt text quality, heading structure, reading level, and link descriptions. Good accessibility starts in the content, not just the code.
Digital agencies
Share it with clients as part of your accessibility deliverable, or use it internally to set a consistent standard across all projects.
See how your site scores right now
Run a free scan and get instant results. No account needed.
Scan your site against this checklist automatically
The checklist tells you what to look for. WebYes Accessibility scans your entire site and finds the issues for you, identifying WCAG failures, showing you the affected code, and suggesting fixes.
Full-site scanning
Scan every page of your site against WCAG A and AA in minutes
AI-powered fixes
Get code-level remediation suggestions you can apply directly
Scheduled monitoring
Automatic periodic scans to catch regressions before they’re reported
Compliance reports
Detailed audit reports covering ADA, Section 508, and EAA
-
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the international standard for web accessibility, published by the W3C. It defines how to make web content usable by people with disabilities, including those with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments.
Conformance at Level AA is referenced by laws including the ADA, EAA, and EN 301 549.
-
Yes. The checklist is free to download with no account, payment, or email required. Click the download button and the PDF saves directly to your device.
-
The checklist covers WCAG Level AA, which is the technical standard courts and regulators use when assessing ADA compliance for websites. Meeting WCAG AA is the strongest step you can take toward ADA compliance.
Legal compliance also depends on your specific context and jurisdiction, so consider this the technical foundation rather than a legal guarantee.
-
WCAG has three conformance levels: A (minimum), AA (standard), and AAA (enhanced). Level AA is the legal and regulatory benchmark for most websites and is what this checklist focuses on.
Level AAA goes further but is not required for most sites and can be difficult to achieve across all content types.
-
Yes. The PDF is designed to be shared. Print it for design reviews, paste it into a project tracker, or work through it with your developer and content team together.
Each criterion is written to be understandable without specialist knowledge.
-
The checklist covers 20+ checks across all four WCAG principles and is a strong foundation for an accessibility audit. However, true accessibility also involves user testing with people who have disabilities.
Think of the checklist as the technical floor, not the ceiling.
