An Accessibility Checklist for Bloggers: Making Every Post Readable for Everyone

Accessibility means making your blog usable by as many people as possible, including readers who are blind or have low vision, who are deaf or hard of hearing, who have motor or cognitive disabilities, or who are simply reading on a small phone in bright sunshine. A great deal of web accessibility comes down to clear writing and sensible structure, which benefits every reader.

This checklist focuses on things a blogger can control, without needing to be a developer. It loosely follows the principles of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the widely used international standard.

Structure

Use real headings, in order

Use your editor's heading styles (H2, H3) rather than bold text to create section titles. Screen reader users often navigate a page by jumping between headings, and search engines use headings to understand structure. Keep them in order: an H3 belongs under an H2, not straight after the H1.

Each page should have one H1, usually the post title.

Use real lists

When you have a list, use the list formatting in your editor rather than typing dashes or numbers manually. Screen readers announce "list, five items", which helps readers understand what is coming.

Keep paragraphs short

Short paragraphs and clear topic sentences help readers with cognitive or attention difficulties, and everyone reading on a phone.

Links

Write descriptive link text

Screen reader users can pull up a list of all links on a page. "Click here", "read more" and "this post" are meaningless in that list. Make link text describe the destination: "our guide to choosing a sewing machine".

Indicate unusual links

If a link opens a PDF, downloads a file or opens a new window, say so in the link text or next to it.

Images and media

Alt text

Every informative image needs alt text describing what matters about it in context. Decorative images should have empty alt text so screen readers skip them. See our guide to blog images for detail.

Text in images

Avoid putting important information only inside an image, such as a quote card or infographic. If you do, repeat the information in the text.

Captions and transcripts

Videos need captions. Auto-generated captions are a start but frequently contain errors, especially with names and technical terms; review and correct them. Podcasts and audio clips benefit from transcripts, which are also excellent for search.

No auto-play

Avoid audio or video that plays automatically. It is disorienting for screen reader users and annoying for everyone.

Colour and contrast

Sufficient contrast

Text needs enough contrast against its background. WCAG recommends a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Light grey text on white is a common failure. Free tools like WebAIM's contrast checker let you test your theme's colours.

Do not rely on colour alone

If you highlight something only by making it red, readers with colour blindness may miss it. Add another signal: an icon, bold text, an underline or a label.

Underline links in body text

Links distinguished only by colour can be hard to spot. Underlines are the clearest signal.

Text and readability

Readable font size

Body text of at least 16 pixels is a sensible minimum on the web; many readable blogs use 17 to 20. Ensure readers can zoom to 200% without the layout breaking.

Reasonable line length

Lines of roughly 50 to 80 characters are easiest to read. Very wide text columns are tiring.

Plain language

Explain jargon or avoid it. Use concrete examples. Spell out abbreviations on first use. Clear writing is an accessibility feature.

Navigation and interaction

Keyboard navigation

Try navigating your blog using only the Tab key, Enter and arrow keys. Can you reach the menu, the search, links in posts and the comment form? Can you see where you are on the page (a visible focus outline)? If your theme hides the focus outline, ask your theme developer or add a small CSS rule to restore it.

Pop-ups and overlays

Newsletter pop-ups and cookie banners are frequently inaccessible: they trap keyboard focus, cannot be closed easily or are not announced to screen readers. If you use them, test them with a keyboard. Better yet, use inline sign-up forms instead of pop-ups.

Forms

Every form field needs a visible label, not just placeholder text that disappears when you start typing. Error messages should explain what went wrong and how to fix it.

Tables

Use tables for tabular data, not for layout. Give them header rows. Keep them simple; complex tables with merged cells are hard to navigate with a screen reader. On mobile, make sure tables can scroll horizontally rather than overflowing the page.

Testing

You do not need expensive tools:

• WAVE (by WebAIM) and the Lighthouse accessibility audit in Chrome's developer tools catch many common problems automatically.
• Keyboard test: navigate a full post using only the keyboard.
• Screen reader test: VoiceOver on Mac and iPhone and NVDA on Windows are free. Spend ten minutes listening to one of your posts. It is eye-opening.
• Zoom test: zoom to 200% and check nothing overlaps or disappears.

Automated tools find only part of the problems, so combine them with the manual checks.

A per-post checklist

• One H1; headings in order
• Real lists for lists
• Descriptive link text
• Alt text on informative images; empty alt on decorative ones
• No essential information only in images
• Captions on video; transcript for audio
• No auto-play
• Colours pass contrast; links underlined

A once-a-year theme checklist

• Body text 16px or larger; zoom to 200% works
• Visible keyboard focus
• Menus and search usable by keyboard
• Pop-ups and banners closable by keyboard
• Form fields labelled

Accessibility is not a one-off project. It is a set of habits. Once they become part of how you write and publish, they cost almost nothing, and they make your blog better for every reader.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I start? Headings, alt text and contrast fix the most common problems quickly.