1. Missing Alt Text on Images
Alt text describes images for users who cannot see them. Screen readers read alt text aloud so blind users understand the image content. Without alt text, these users miss important information completely.
How to Fix It
Add descriptive alt text to every meaningful image. For example, instead of “image1.jpg” write “A developer reviewing accessibility code on a laptop screen.” Decorative images should have empty alt text (alt=””) so screen readers skip them.
2. Poor Color Contrast
Low contrast between text and background makes content unreadable for users with low vision or color blindness. WCAG 2.2 requires a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
How to Fix It
Use a free contrast checker tool like WebAIM Contrast Checker to verify all text on your website meets the minimum ratio. Dark text on light backgrounds almost always passes. Avoid light gray text on white backgrounds.
3. No Keyboard Navigation Support
Many users cannot use a mouse due to motor disabilities. They navigate entirely using the keyboard Tab key. If your website cannot be navigated by keyboard alone, these users are completely locked out.
How to Fix It
Test your entire website using only the Tab, Enter, Space and Arrow keys. Every interactive element — links, buttons, forms, menus — must be reachable and operable by keyboard. Make sure focus indicators are always clearly visible.
4. Missing Form Labels
Forms without proper labels are unusable for screen reader users. When a user tabs to an input field, the screen reader needs to announce what information is required. Placeholder text alone is not sufficient as a label.
How to Fix It
Every form field must have a visible label element associated with it using the for and id attributes. Never rely on placeholder text as the only label. Always keep labels visible even after the user starts typing.
5. Inaccessible PDFs
PDFs are one of the most common accessibility failures. Scanned PDFs are just images of text — screen readers cannot read them at all. Even digital PDFs often lack proper reading order, headings and alt text.
How to Fix It
All PDFs must be properly tagged with headings, lists, alt text and reading order. Use Adobe Acrobat Pro to check and fix PDF accessibility. At Accessibility Pros we specialize in PDF remediation to make your documents fully accessible.
6. Videos Without Captions
Videos without captions exclude users who are deaf or hard of hearing. Auto-generated captions from YouTube are often inaccurate and do not meet accessibility standards. All video content must have accurate synchronized captions.
How to Fix It
Add accurate closed captions to all videos. Use a professional captioning service or carefully edit auto-generated captions for accuracy. Also provide audio descriptions for important visual content in videos.
7. No Skip Navigation Link
Keyboard and screen reader users must tab through the entire navigation menu on every page before reaching the main content. Without a skip link this becomes extremely frustrating and time consuming.
How to Fix It
Add a “Skip to main content” link as the very first focusable element on every page. This link can be visually hidden but must become visible on keyboard focus. It allows users to jump directly to the main content area.
8. Using Color Alone to Convey Information
If your website uses only color to indicate errors, status or required fields, users with color blindness will miss this information entirely. For example showing required form fields in red only is not accessible.
How to Fix It
Always combine color with text, icons or patterns to convey information. For example mark required fields with both a red color AND an asterisk (*) with a text legend explaining what the asterisk means.
9. Inaccessible Mobile Experience
Mobile accessibility is often overlooked. Small touch targets, pinch-to-zoom disabled and content that requires horizontal scrolling all create barriers for users with motor or visual disabilities on mobile devices.
How to Fix It
Ensure all touch targets are at least 44×44 pixels. Never disable pinch-to-zoom using maximum-scale=1 in your viewport meta tag. Make sure your website is fully responsive and works at any screen size without horizontal scrolling.
10. Missing Page Titles and Landmark Regions
Every page must have a unique descriptive title that tells users what page they are on. Without proper landmark regions like header, main, nav and footer, screen reader users cannot quickly navigate to different sections of a page.
How to Fix It
Give every page a unique descriptive title using the title tag. Add proper HTML5 landmark elements — header, nav, main and footer — to every page. These landmarks allow screen reader users to jump directly to any section.
Conclusion
Web accessibility is about making the internet usable for everyone. By fixing these 10 common mistakes you will not only comply with WCAG 2.2 standards but also improve the experience for all your users. At Accessibility Pros we help businesses identify and fix accessibility barriers across websites, PDFs, mobile apps and more. Contact us today to get started on your accessibility journey.