Create Accessible Documents with Wix

Accessibility is both an obligation and an opportunity. With Wix, you can design your website to be accessible, making it easier for people with disabilities to access while simultaneously meeting legal requirements. From 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act makes accessibility mandatory for private companies as well -- violations can result in fines of up to EUR 100,000.

What You Can Achieve with Wix:

• Tools like the Accessibility Wizard help identify and fix barriers.
• Improved user experience through clear text structures, alt texts for images and optimised colour contrasts.
• Legal compliance through adherence to WCAG standards.
• Greater reach and SEO benefits, as accessible sites are found more easily.

Why Accessibility Matters:

• In the EU, 87 million people live with disabilities.
• Accessibility means access for all and enhances your brand perception.

Use the built-in features of Wix, such as Smart Focus Ring, Skip to Main Content and the Contrast Checker, to make your content accessible to everyone. Implementation is straightforward and brings legal, economic and social benefits.

Related Video from YouTube

What Makes Documents Accessible?

After explaining the importance of accessible documents, here is an overview of how they can be technically implemented.

Fundamentals of Web Accessibility

Digital accessibility is based on four central principles: Perceivability, Operability, Understandability and Robustness. These principles serve as guidelines when creating documents.

PrincipleTechnical RequirementsImplementationPerceivabilitySufficient colour contrastContrast ratio of at least 4.5:1OperabilityKeyboard navigationAll functions reachable via keyboardUnderstandabilityClear structuringLogical heading hierarchyRobustnessTechnical compatibilityScreen reader support

Accessibility Legislation

In addition to the technical foundations, legal requirements play an important role. Various EU and national accessibility laws define clear technical requirements:

• Conformance level AA of the WCAG guidelines for general pages
• Conformance level AAA for particularly important landing pages
• Obligation to provide an accessibility statement on the website

From 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act will also place greater obligations on the private sector.

Business Benefits of Accessibility

Beyond legal and technical aspects, accessibility also offers economic advantages:

AreaSpecific BenefitImpactLegal complianceAvoiding legal violationsProtection against finesMarket reachAccess to new target groupsGaining additional customer segmentsTechnical qualityImproved code structureEasier maintenanceUser experienceImproved usabilityHigher customer satisfaction

With Wix tools such as the Accessibility Wizard, these requirements can be easily implemented. This tool helps to check and optimise accessibility. In addition, regular manual reviews should be conducted to supplement the automated checks.

Setting Up Wix for Accessibility

Wix provides practical tools that meet WCAG 2.0 requirements and are adapted to standards 2.1/2.2. Building on the benefits of accessible documents, Wix offers concrete solutions to make your website more accessible.

Wix Accessibility Tools

Here are some of the most important features to help you:

• Accessibility Wizard: Automatic review of your website for accessibility.
• Smart Focus Ring: Supports visual keyboard navigation.
• Skip to Main Content: Enables users to navigate directly to the main content.
• Automatic DOM ordering: Ensures a logical page structure.

Setting Up Accessibility: First Steps

Here is how to start with the configuration:

1. Open the Wix Editor, go to settings and start the Accessibility Wizard.
2. Under "More Actions", activate the Smart Focus Ring and the "Skip to Main Content" option.
3. Choose a template that already offers optimised heading structures and adjusted colour contrasts.

Using the Accessibility Wizard

With the Accessibility Wizard, you can review and optimise your website for accessibility.

"The goal is to make every website created with Wix more accessible to people with different disabilities."

The review process is divided into three phases:

1. Scan the website: Start the "Scan My Site" function.
2. Fix problems: Add alt texts and optimise colour contrasts.
3. Publish the optimised version: Activate the updated version of your website.

The Accessibility Wizard supports compliance with accessibility standards.

Making Documents Accessible in Wix

After setting up the basic accessibility tools in Wix, it is now time to make your documents accessible.

Text and Heading Structure

A clear structure of texts and headings is crucial for accessibility. In the Wix Editor, you can easily adjust these elements via the inspector panel.

For an accessible text structure, you should use HTML tags correctly. Use a single H1 heading and follow a logical sequence from H2 to H6. These settings can be made directly in the text settings.

Some important points about text structure:

• Heading tags should be used for content structuring, not for design.
• Maintain a clear hierarchy and do not skip any levels.

This improves both user-friendliness and search engine visibility.

Image Description Guidelines

Images require special measures to be accessible. Alt texts play a central role, as they make image content accessible to screen readers and simultaneously improve SEO.

• Describe the image content precisely and concisely (maximum 125 characters).
• Avoid excessive use of keywords.
• Decorative images should be marked as such.

Colour and Contrast Rules

With the Wix Contrast Checker, you can check whether the contrast between text and background meets WCAG requirements.

Text Size****Minimum Contrast RatioNormal (18px or 14px bold)4.5:1Large (24px or 18px bold)3:1

The Contrast Checker in Wix Studio supports you in meeting WCAG standards (AA and AAA).

Follow these recommendations to make your documents more accessible, and then test the results with the Wix Contrast Checker.

Checking Documents for Accessibility

Using Wix's Own Test Tools

With the Accessibility Monitor from Wix, you can monitor the status of your published website directly in the dashboard.

The Accessibility Wizard helps you check your documents for the following points:

• Missing alt texts for images
• Faulty or inadequate heading structure
• Duplicate heading tags
• Weak colour contrasts

"Use the Accessibility Monitor for published content and the Wizard for saved, unpublished versions."

Additional Test Tools

In addition to the built-in features, external testing tools can be helpful:

Tool TypeExamplesApplication AreaAutomated toolsSiteimprove, axe-coreAnalysis of code and contentManual testsKeyboard test, screen readerReview of context and navigationMobile testsTalkBack (Android), VoiceOver (iOS)Mobile accessibility tests

Important: Automated tools only cover 20-40% of accessibility problems. A combination of different test methods is therefore crucial.