WCAG Accessibility Checklist for Creator Portfolio Sites

Creators rely on stunning visuals, but an eye-catching portfolio is useless if large portions of the audience cannot use it. This WCAG accessibility checklist for creator portfolio sites walks you through practical steps, testing tips, and pitfalls to dodge so every visitor can enjoy your work.

Creator Portfolio Accessibility: Your End-to-End WCAG Checklist

Why Accessibility Matters for Creators

A portfolio often doubles as your shop window, press kit, and resume. If it silently excludes people with disabilities it also blocks potential fans, clients, and collaborators. Accessible sites load faster for everyone, rank higher on search, and lower the risk of costly ADA demand letters. In short, accessibility is not optional brand polish - it is a core part of professional presentation.

• Search engines reward semantic markup and text alternatives, boosting discoverability.
• Inclusive sites comply with Section 508, ADA, and EU accessibility directives.
• Accessible components often improve performance metrics such as Core Web Vitals.

Core WCAG Principles: POUR Explained

The WCAG standard is organised around four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust (POUR). Creators can remember them as answers to four user questions: Can I detect the content? Can I operate the interface? Can I interpret the information? Will my assistive tech understand this code? The 78 success criteria of WCAG 2.1 map to these pillars. While the full spec looks dense, most portfolio obstacles stem from a handful of recurring mistakes.

Perceivable: Provide text equivalents for images, transcripts for audio, and sufficient colour contrast so artwork and copy remain legible in bright sunlight or via screen readers.

Operable: Make every menu, gallery, and carousel reachable by keyboard alone. Avoid autoplay that cannot be paused. Ensure swipe gestures have keyboard fallbacks.

Understandable: Keep navigation labels consistent, explain unusual controls, and avoid jargon. Error messages should help users fix the problem, not shame them.

Robust: Use valid HTML5, ARIA only when needed, and check with real assistive technologies like NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack.

Pre-Launch Checklist: 15 Key Tasks

Run through this creator-specific sequence before showing your new site to the world. Tick each item, commit the change, then retest.

Write meaningful alt text that describes the concept of each visual, not just the file name.

Provide audio descriptions or extended alt for motion reels so blind users grasp the narrative.

Add captions to every video or embed YouTube player with already synced captions.

Choose colour palettes that pass WCAG AA contrast ratios; use an automated contrast checker.

Ensure text scales up to 200 percent without clipping or horizontal scroll.

Test all navigation, modal dialogs, and sliders with only the Tab, Shift+Tab, and Enter keys.

Mark up headings in a logical h1-h2-h3 sequence; do not style divs as faux headings.

Label form fields such as contact forms or booking inquiries explicitly with the element.

Add ARIA-labelledby to icon-only buttons (e.g., play, pause, share).

Give focus indicators a 2-pixel outline that meets 3:1 contrast against adjacent colours.

Offer pause and stop controls for any autoplay audio loop or hero video.

Limit motion: respect prefers-reduced-motion media query for parallax or scroll animations.

Sync theme colours with browser-level dark mode support using the color-scheme property.

Run HTML validation via W3C Validator and fix any missing closing tags or duplicate IDs.

Generate an accessibility statement that explains known gaps and contact options.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Pro tip: The most polished dribbble shot often hides poor semantics under the hood. Watch for these five traps that sabotage accessibility the moment you hit Publish.

• Click-trap hero sections: Entire viewport is a background video with no text alternative or keyboard focus target.
• Auto-advancing carousels: If slides rotate every 3 seconds without user control, cognitive load skyrockets.
• Custom cursor scripts: Novel cursors can break hit targets or vanish at high zoom levels, confusing low-vision users.
• Masonry grids without source order control: Screen readers may read artwork out of context because the DOM order does not match the visual order.
• Focus locking gone wrong: Overlays trap keyboard focus but forget to return it to the trigger element once closed.

Testing Workflow: From Automated Scans to Real Users

Automation alone flags about 30 percent of WCAG issues, so pair tools with manual checks. Start with bulk scans via axe DevTools, Pa11y, or Lighthouse. Next, navigate every page with a keyboard and a screen reader. Turn off CSS to expose reading order issues. Finally, recruit at least two disabled testers - one screen reader user and one with motor impairments - to interact with critical flows such as contact forms or art downloads.

Keep a shared spreadsheet with four columns: Page, Issue, WCAG Criterion, Fix Owner. Assign deadlines. Iterate until severity is low enough for an external audit. Document what you tested, when, and with which software versions for legal proof of effort.

Maintenance and Continuous Improvement

Accessibility is a moving target. Each new artwork upload, theme update, or plugin install can create regressions. Schedule quarterly scans and include accessibility in your Definition of Done for content publishing. Keep libraries up to date because many introduce patches for focus management and ARIA bugs. When WCAG 2.2 graduates to Recommendation status, review new criteria such as focus appearance and drag-and-drop guidelines.

Educate collaborators: photographers, editors, and copywriters should know how to write alt text and avoid low-contrast overlays. Store reusable accessible components - modals, accordions, lightboxes - in a design system to maintain consistency.

How do I caption videos on my portfolio efficiently?

Use a service like YouTube automatic captions as a starting point, then correct errors in the subtitle editor. Export the .vtt file and upload it with the HTML5 element so self-hosted videos also include captions.

What colour contrast ratio should my text meet?

WCAG AA requires a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text and 3:1 for large text above 24px or 19px bold. Strive for AAA 7:1 where branding allows.

Can I rely only on accessibility plugins?

Overlay plugins rarely fix structural issues and may introduce new barriers. Manual remediation of code and content is still essential.

Is keyboard testing enough if I pass automated scans?

Keyboard testing uncovers many operability issues, but you still need screen reader and zoom tests to detect mislabeled controls, reading order errors, and responsiveness problems.

How often should I audit my site for accessibility?

Audit at least every quarter or after major redesigns. Include accessibility checks in your CI pipeline to catch regressions before deployment.