Checklist

This checklist helps developers identify potential accessibility issues affecting their websites or applications. It’s broken down into three sections of decreasing importance: A, B, and C. Please check and address these issues in the order in which they appear:

• A — Critical issues that’ll cause serious problems and/or stop most users of assistive technology from using the site.
• B — Issues that may cause problems or increased frustration for certain users.
• C — Minor issues that’ll cause problems or frustration for a small number of users

It’s important to note, while B and C are noted as less critical, they’re still required to be truly Section 508 compliant. This checklist should be used as a reference for development and isn’t a substitute for compliance checks by a Section 508 coordinator.

A — Critical

1. Site is keyboard accessible
   • All interactions can be accessed with a keyboard
2. Site is free of keyboard traps
   • The keyboard focus is never trapped in a loop
3. All form inputs have explicit labels
4. All relevant images use an img tag
5. All images have alt attributes
6. Multimedia is tagged
   • All multimedia has appropriate captioning and audio description
7. Text has sufficient color contrast
   • All text has a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 with the background

B — Less Critical

1. Site never loses focus
   • Focus is always visible when moving through the page with the keyboard
2. Tab order is logical
3. Form instructions are associated with inputs
4. Site doesn’t timeout unexpectedly
   • Identify elements that may “timeout” and verify that the user can request more time
5. Tables are coded properly
   • Tables have proper headers and column attributes
6. Headings are nested properly
   • Heading elements are nested in a logical way

C — Minor

1. Frames are named
   • All frames have a name element
2. Flashing elements are compliant
   • Elements that flash on screen do so at a rate of less than 3 Hz
3. Language is set
   • The language for the page is set
   • The language for sections on the page that differ from the site language are set
4. CSS isn’t required to use the page
   • The page makes sense with or without CSS
5. Links are unique and contextual
   • All links can be understood taken alone (for example, “read more about 508”)
6. Page titles are descriptive
7. Required plugins are linked on the page