How to Make Your Website ADA Compliant — Step by Step
Making your website ADA compliant doesn't have to be overwhelming. This step-by-step guide walks you through the process, from initial audit to ongoing monitoring. The key is to start now and make incremental progress.
Step 1: Run an Automated Scan
Start by running your website through ADA CodeFix or a similar automated scanner. This will identify the most common WCAG 2.1 AA violations — missing alt text, poor contrast, unlabeled form fields, and more. Automated scanning catches 30-50% of accessibility issues and gives you a clear starting point.
Step 2: Fix Critical Issues First
Prioritize fixes by impact. Start with: missing alt text on images, form fields without labels, insufficient color contrast, missing page language attribute, keyboard navigation issues, and missing skip links. These account for the majority of lawsuit-triggering violations and affect the most users.
Step 3: Test with Keyboard and Screen Reader
After automated fixes, manually test your site. Navigate every page using only your keyboard (Tab, Enter, Escape, arrow keys). Can you reach everything? Can you see where focus is? Then test with a screen reader — VoiceOver on Mac, NVDA on Windows. Does the content make sense when read aloud?
Step 4: Fix Your Content Pipeline
Accessibility is not a one-time fix. Update your content creation process: require alt text for all image uploads, use heading levels properly in your CMS, add captions to all videos, ensure new forms are properly labeled. Build accessibility into your workflow so new content is compliant from the start.
Step 5: Add an Accessibility Statement
Publish an accessibility statement on your website. Include: your commitment to accessibility, the WCAG standard you're targeting (2.1 AA), known limitations, and how users can contact you if they encounter barriers. This shows good faith and gives users a way to report issues before filing complaints.
Step 6: Monitor Continuously
Set up ongoing monitoring to catch new violations as they appear. Content changes, plugin updates, and design modifications can introduce new accessibility issues. ADA CodeFix offers continuous monitoring to scan your site regularly and alert you when problems arise.
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