The A11Y Project Checklist
A community-maintained, plain-language accessibility checklist organised by area: content, global code, keyboard, images, headings, lists, controls, tables, forms, media, appearance, animation, colour contrast and mobile and touch. A practical pre-release check for designers and developers.
Cheat sheet
Web Development
The A11Y Project
Beginner
Free
What it is
The A11Y Project is a community-driven effort to make digital accessibility easier. Its checklist turns the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) into short, plain-language checks. The project states that the checklist targets many, but not all, level A and AA concerns, and uses WCAG as its reference point.
What it covers
As of 2026-09 the checklist is grouped into: content, global code, keyboard, images, headings, lists, controls, tables, forms, media, appearance, animation, colour contrast, and mobile and touch. Each item links to the relevant WCAG criterion and to further explanation.
Why use it
WCAG itself is long and technical. The checklist gives you a practical list to run through before a design handoff or a release, in words that designers, developers and product managers can all understand. It is a good bridge between learning accessibility and applying it every week.
How to use it
- Designers: before handoff, go through appearance, colour contrast, headings, forms, animation, and mobile and touch. Annotate your file with anything developers need to know, such as heading levels and focus order.
- Developers: before release, go through global code, keyboard, controls, forms, images and tables, then test with a keyboard and a screen reader.
- Teams: copy the relevant items into your definition of done so accessibility is checked on every feature, not once a year.
Limits
It does not cover every WCAG criterion, and ticking every box does not make a product fully accessible. Combine it with automated tools such as WAVE, manual keyboard and screen reader testing, and, where possible, testing with disabled users.
Free or paid?
Free. The project is community maintained.
Time needed
Reading the whole checklist takes under an hour. Running it on a real feature takes an hour or two the first time and much less once it is a habit.
What you can do after
Run a quick, repeatable accessibility check on your designs and builds, and explain which WCAG criteria your work meets and where it still falls short.
Common questions
Is it official? No. The official standard is WCAG from the W3C; the checklist is a community summary pointing to it.
Level A, AA or AAA? Most organisations aim for AA, which is what the checklist mostly targets.
Ready to start?
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Stuck on something specific?
Writing only gets you so far. If you want an answer to your situation rather than the general case, book a session and we will work through it together. Sessions are free for approved Sefism members, and a few slots open each week.
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