Shopify accessibility checklist: 24 checks for your store

By AbleAisle. Updated 15 October 2026.

This checklist covers the accessibility issues that come up most often on Shopify stores, in the order most merchants can tackle them: first the things you can fix yourself in the Shopify admin, then the theme settings, then the items you may need a developer for. Each item links to the relevant part of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, the most widely used technical standard for web accessibility.

You don't need to do everything at once. Work through one section at a time, and re-check after you change themes or install new apps, because both can bring new issues with them.

Want a quick starting point? Run a free Quick check of your home page to see which automated checks it fails today.

1. Content you can fix in the Shopify admin

• Every informative image has alt text. Product photos, collection images and banners that carry information need a short description. Decorative images should have empty alt text. See WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content and our guide to Shopify alt text.
• Text in images is repeated as real text. If a banner says "Free shipping over €50", that offer should also appear as text on the page or in the alt text. See WCAG 1.4.5 Images of Text.
• Headings are used in order. In product descriptions and pages, use the heading styles in the rich text editor in a logical order rather than bold text, and don't skip levels just to get a bigger font. See WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships.
• Links make sense on their own. "Read our size guide" is clearer than "Click here", especially for screen reader users who jump from link to link. See WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context).
• Size charts and care instructions aren't only images. A size chart uploaded as a picture can't be read by a screen reader or resized easily. Use a table or text where you can.
• Videos have captions. Product videos with speech need captions, and videos that show important information visually may need a description. See WCAG 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded).
• Page titles are clear and unique. Each product, collection and page should have a title that describes it. Shopify uses the product or page title by default, and you can edit the search engine listing for each one. See WCAG 2.4.2 Page Titled.

2. Theme settings you can usually change yourself

• Text and buttons have enough colour contrast. Normal text needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background, and large text 3:1. Check your theme's colour schemes, sale badges, placeholder text and text over images. See WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) and our colour contrast guide.
• Information isn't shown by colour alone. Out-of-stock variants, sale prices and form errors should have text or an icon as well as a colour change. See WCAG 1.4.1 Use of Color.
• Slideshows and announcement bars can be paused. Anything that moves or auto-advances for more than five seconds needs a way to pause or stop it. If your theme has an autoplay setting, consider turning it off. See WCAG 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide.
• Pop-ups can be closed easily. Newsletter and discount pop-ups should be easy to close with the keyboard and shouldn't trap focus. Test them yourself with the Tab and Escape keys.
• Text can be zoomed. The store should still work when you zoom the browser to 200%, and on a narrow phone screen without scrolling sideways. See WCAG 1.4.4 Resize Text and WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow.

3. Things to test with a keyboard

Put your mouse aside and use Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Space and the arrow keys to shop your own store.

• Everything works with a keyboard. You can open menus, choose a variant, change the quantity, add to cart, open the cart drawer and reach checkout. See WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard.
• You can always see where you are. A visible focus outline shows which link or button is selected. Some themes and custom CSS remove it. See WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible.
• Focus never gets stuck. You can leave menus, drawers and pop-ups with the keyboard. See WCAG 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap.
• There's a skip link. Most current Shopify themes include a "Skip to content" link as the first thing you reach with Tab. See WCAG 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks.

4. Forms

• Every field has a label. Newsletter sign-ups, contact forms, search boxes and quantity selectors need a visible or programmatic label, not just placeholder text. See WCAG 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions.
• Errors are explained in text. If something goes wrong, the message says what and how to fix it. See WCAG 3.3.1 Error Identification.
• Buttons have names. Icon-only buttons such as search, cart, close and quantity plus and minus need an accessible name that a screen reader can announce. See WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.

5. Apps and custom code

• Check what your apps add. Reviews widgets, chat bubbles, pop-ups and wishlist buttons are added by apps, and each one can bring its own issues. Test them the same way as the rest of the store, and ask the app developer about accessibility if they cause problems.
• Be cautious about overlays. Accessibility overlay widgets don't fix the underlying code of your store, and many disabled users and accessibility specialists object to them. Fixing your own content and theme is the more reliable approach.
• Re-check after theme updates. A theme update or switch can undo earlier fixes or introduce new issues.

6. Tell customers how to get help

• Publish an accessibility statement. Say what you've done, what you know still needs work and how customers can contact you if they hit a barrier. See our guide to writing an accessibility statement.
• Offer more than one way to reach you. An email address as well as a contact form helps customers who can't use the form.

What automated checks can and can't do

Automated tools, including free browser extensions and apps like AbleAisle, are good at finding missing alt text, low contrast, missing labels and similar issues across many pages quickly. They can't tell whether alt text is accurate, whether the keyboard order makes sense or whether the checkout experience is pleasant with a screen reader. Use automated checks to find the common issues, then test the main shopping journey yourself, and ideally with disabled users.

Checkout is run by Shopify itself, so it's outside what you can change in your theme.