EAA Compliance Checklist 2026: What Non-Developers Need to Know

If you run a website that serves customers in the European Union, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) now applies to you. The June 2025 deadline has passed, and enforcement is underway. The good news? You do not need to be a developer to make your site compliant. This checklist will walk you through the most important items you can check and fix yourself.

What Is the European Accessibility Act?

The European Accessibility Act is an EU directive that requires digital products and services to be accessible to people with disabilities. Think of it as the European equivalent of the ADA for websites. It covers online shops, banking services, e-books, transport ticketing, and many other digital services. If your business sells to EU customers online, this law likely applies to you.

Who Does the EAA Apply To?

The EAA applies to businesses that offer products or services to consumers in the EU, regardless of where the business is based. If someone in Germany, France, or any other EU member state can buy from your website, you are in scope.

The Microenterprise Exemption

There is one notable exception. Microenterprises — businesses with fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover under 2 million euros — are exempt from most EAA requirements for services. However, this exemption is narrow. If you sell physical products covered by the act (like computers or e-readers), the product accessibility requirements still apply. And even if you qualify for the exemption today, growing past that threshold means you must comply immediately. Our advice: start now regardless of size. Accessibility is good for every business.

The EAA Compliance Checklist: 15 Items You Can Check Without Code

You do not need to open a single line of code to verify most of these items. Grab a coffee, open your website, and work through this list.

1. Check That All Images Have Descriptive Text

Every image on your site should have “alt text” — a short description that screen readers (software used by blind and visually impaired people) read aloud. In most website builders like WordPress, Shopify, or Squarespace, you can add alt text in the image settings panel.

How to check: Right-click any image on your site, select “Inspect,” and look for alt="..." in the highlighted code. If it says alt="" or the alt attribute is missing entirely, that image needs a description.

Quick fix: Go to your CMS media library and add descriptions to every image. Describe what the image shows, not what you want people to feel. “A woman using a laptop at a cafe” is better than “productivity” or “lifestyle.”

2. Make Sure Your Text Has Enough Contrast

“Contrast” means the difference in brightness between your text and its background. Light grey text on a white background is hard to read for everyone, not just people with vision impairments. The standard requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text (18px bold or 24px regular and above).

How to check: Use the free WebAIM Contrast Checker. Enter your text color and background color, and it will tell you if you pass or fail.

Quick fix: If you fail, darken your text color or lighten/darken your background until the tool shows a pass. Update the colors in your site’s theme settings.

3. Verify That Your Site Works With Keyboard Only

Some people cannot use a mouse. They navigate websites entirely with the Tab key, Enter key, and arrow keys. Your site must be usable this way.

How to check: Put your mouse aside. Start at the top of any page and press Tab repeatedly. Can you reach every link, button, and form field? Can you see which element is currently selected (usually shown with a blue or black outline)? Can you open menus and close pop-ups with the keyboard?

Quick fix: If elements are getting skipped or you cannot see where the focus is, this usually requires theme or template changes. Note the specific problems — we will cover what to do about them at the end of this article.

4. Check Your Heading Structure

Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are not just for visual styling. Screen readers use them to navigate your page like a table of contents. Your page should have exactly one H1 (usually the page title), followed by H2s for main sections, H3s for subsections, and so on. Never skip levels (do not jump from H1 to H3).

How to check: Install the free HeadingsMap browser extension for Chrome. It will show you the heading structure of any page in seconds.

Quick fix: In your CMS editor, select text that is styled as a heading and make sure it is actually marked as the correct heading level, not just bold text made to look big.

5. Ensure All Form Fields Have Labels

Every input field on your site — email signup boxes, contact forms, checkout fields — needs a visible label that is properly connected to the field. Placeholder text (the grey text inside the field that disappears when you click) does not count as a label.

How to check: Look at your forms. Can you tell what each field is for without clicking on it? If the only indication is placeholder text, you have a problem.

Quick fix: Most form builder plugins (Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Typeform, etc.) let you add visible labels in their settings. Turn them on.

6. Add Captions to Your Videos

Any video content on your site needs captions (subtitles). This applies to product demos, testimonial videos, background videos with speech, and embedded YouTube or Vimeo content.

How to check: Play each video on your site. Are captions available? Auto-generated captions from YouTube are a starting point, but they often contain errors and should be reviewed.

Quick fix: YouTube and Vimeo both offer free caption editing tools. Upload your videos there, use auto-generated captions as a base, then review and correct them. For videos hosted directly on your site, use a free tool like Kapwing to generate and edit captions.

Screen reader users often navigate by jumping from link to link. A link that says “Click here” or “Read more” is meaningless without the surrounding text.

How to check: Scan your pages for link text. Would you understand where each link goes if you could only read the link text itself?

Quick fix: Change vague links to descriptive ones. Instead of “Click here to see our pricing,” write “View our pricing plans.” Instead of “Read more,” write “Read more about our return policy.”

8. Make Sure Pop-ups and Modals Can Be Closed

Cookie consent banners, newsletter pop-ups, and promotional overlays must be dismissable with the keyboard (usually the Escape key) and should not trap the user’s focus.

How to check: Open a pop-up on your site. Can you close it by pressing Escape? Can you Tab to the close button? After closing it, does focus return to where you were on the page?

Quick fix: Most pop-up plugins have accessibility settings. Check your plugin’s settings for options like “close on Escape” and “trap focus.” If your plugin does not support this, consider switching to one that does.

9. Verify Your Site Has a Logical Reading Order

When you turn off your site’s CSS (styling), the content should still appear in a logical order. This is the order screen readers follow.

How to check: Use the free WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluator. Enter your page URL and check the “Structure” tab to see how your content is ordered.

Quick fix: If the order is wrong, it usually means content is positioned visually with CSS but is out of order in the actual HTML. This may require template adjustments — note it for a developer if needed.

10. Check That Error Messages Are Clear and Visible

When a user fills out a form incorrectly, the error message should clearly explain what went wrong and which field needs attention. The error should appear near the relevant field, not just at the top or bottom of the form.

How to check: Submit a form with intentional errors (leave required fields empty, enter an invalid email). Are the error messages specific? Do they appear next to the problem fields?

Quick fix: Most form plugins allow you to customize error messages in their settings. Make them specific: “Please enter a valid email address” is better than “Invalid input.”

11. Ensure Text Can Be Resized Without Breaking the Layout

Users with low vision often zoom in or increase text size. Your site should still be usable at 200% zoom.

How to check: Open your site in a browser and press Ctrl+Plus (Cmd+Plus on Mac) several times until you reach 200% zoom. Is all text still readable? Does the layout still work? Is anything cut off or overlapping?

Quick fix: If your site breaks at zoom, this is typically a theme or template issue. Switching to a responsive, modern theme usually resolves it. Most themes released after 2022 handle zoom well.

12. Remove or Fix Auto-Playing Content

Content that moves, blinks, scrolls, or auto-plays can be disorienting or even dangerous for people with certain conditions. Carousels, auto-playing videos, and animated banners all fall into this category.

How to check: Load your homepage and other key pages. Does anything move without you triggering it?

Quick fix: Disable auto-play on carousels and videos. Add pause buttons to any animated content. Better yet, consider replacing auto-playing carousels with static content — studies show they rarely improve conversion rates anyway.

13. Check Your Page Titles

Every page on your site should have a unique, descriptive title that appears in the browser tab. This is the first thing a screen reader announces when someone opens a page.

How to check: Open several pages on your site and look at the browser tab. Does each tab show a distinct, meaningful title? “Home | Your Brand” and “Pricing | Your Brand” are good. “Untitled” or every page showing the same title is bad.

Quick fix: In your CMS settings (usually under SEO settings or page settings), update the title for each page. If you use an SEO plugin like Yoast or Rank Math, you can set title templates.

14. Verify That Your Site Identifies Its Language

Screen readers need to know what language your page is written in to pronounce words correctly. Your site should declare its primary language.

How to check: Right-click on your page, select “View Page Source,” and look at the very first <html tag. It should include something like lang="en" for English, lang="de" for German, etc.

Quick fix: Most CMS platforms set this automatically based on your site language settings. In WordPress, go to Settings > General > Site Language. In Shopify, check your theme’s language settings.

15. Run a Free Automated Accessibility Scan

Automated tools will not catch everything, but they will find many common issues quickly. Think of this as a starting point, not a finish line.

How to check: Run your site through WAVE or install the axe DevTools browser extension. Both are free and will flag issues with explanations of what is wrong and how to fix it.

Quick fix: Work through the flagged issues one by one, starting with “Errors” (the most serious) before moving to “Warnings.”

How to Fix Common Issues Without Writing Code

Many accessibility problems can be solved directly in your content management system:

  • Missing alt text: Add it in your media library or image settings.
  • Poor contrast: Update your theme’s color settings.
  • Missing form labels: Enable labels in your form plugin settings.
  • Vague link text: Edit the text directly in your page editor.
  • Missing page titles: Update them in your SEO or page settings.
  • Auto-playing media: Disable auto-play in your slider or video plugin settings.
  • Missing captions: Add them through YouTube, Vimeo, or a captioning tool.

For issues that require template or code changes — like keyboard navigation problems, reading order issues, or zoom breakage — keep reading.

What to Do If You Need More Help

If you have worked through this checklist and still have unresolved issues, here are your options:

  • Switch to an accessible theme. Many accessibility problems come from poorly built themes. Look for themes that advertise WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. WordPress themes tagged “Accessibility Ready” have passed a basic review.
  • Hire an accessibility specialist for a one-time audit. This typically costs between 500 and 2,000 euros for a small site. They will give you a prioritized list of fixes.
  • Use your platform’s built-in tools. Shopify, WordPress, and Squarespace all have accessibility documentation and built-in features. Check their help centers.
  • Do not rely on accessibility overlay widgets. Tools that promise to “make your site accessible with one line of code” are widely criticized by the accessibility community and may not satisfy EAA requirements. Fix the actual issues instead.

Stay Ahead of Enforcement

EAA enforcement varies by EU member state, and penalties differ across countries. Some nations are already conducting audits; others are still setting up enforcement bodies. Regardless of where enforcement stands today, fixing accessibility issues now protects you from future risk and makes your site better for all visitors.

We’re building a simple accessibility checker for non-developers — no DevTools, no jargon. Join our waitlist to get early access.

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