Read an Issue and Decide What to Fix First

The Issues tab on a domain lists every rule that failed across your monitored pages, most severe first. Select an issue to open it.

The Issue Header

• Severity: how badly the problem blocks people.
  • Critical: blocks a task completely, such as a form field with no label.
  • Serious: makes a task very hard.
  • Moderate: causes friction.
  • Minor: an annoyance.
• WCAG criteria: the success criteria the rule relates to, with their level, for example WCAG 1.1.1 (A). “Best practice” means the rule is recommended but not required by WCAG.
• The number: how many elements fail across all monitored pages.

Use the Severity menu at the top of the tab to show one severity at a time.

Inside an Issue

1. What is wrong explains the rule in plain language.

2. Where it happens shows how many elements and pages are affected, with examples of the failing code and the page each one is on. Search your code for the class names or text in these snippets to find the source.

3. How to solve it gives step-by-step instructions. For the most common issues, you also get Correct markup solutions: working code examples with line numbers and a Copy button. Below them, For your page gives the specific fix for what was found on your site.

A link at the bottom opens detailed guidance for the rule, and View every failed element and fixes opens the issue’s own page.

The Issue Details Page

Open it from an issue, from a Manually Required item, or from the coverage table on the Overview: select a criterion’s issues or Needs review status to see the rules behind it, then select a rule.

It has three tabs:

• Issue Overview: summary cards for pages affected, failed elements, the issue’s share of all issues, severity, who is most affected (for example, blind and screen reader users or people with low vision) and the WCAG success criteria, with links to our guide for each criterion. Below them, What does this mean? and How to solve it, with Correct markup solutions and Incorrect markup solutions you can copy.
• Failed Elements: every failing element from the latest scan of each page (up to 25 per rule per page), grouped by page and device, with its HTML, its CSS selector and what to fix. For missing alt text, button and link names and the page language, you can type the fix under an element and apply it with AccessBellFix.
• Fixed Elements: pages where this issue failed in the previous scan and passes in the latest one.

Fix Each Failed Element

On the Failed Elements tab, many issues show a Fix this element box under each element: missing alt text, buttons and links with no name, unlabeled form fields, untitled frames and a missing page language. Type the text once, for example what the image shows or what the button does, and AccessBell writes the element’s corrected code for you:

1. Select Copy code and paste it over the element in your site or template, then rescan.
2. Or select Fix now to fix it on your live site without editing your code. Fix now works through AccessBellFix: if it is not installed on your site yet, AccessBell shows you how to add it in a few minutes. See install AccessBellFix.

For issues that need a design or content change, such as color contrast, follow What to fix under each element and the correct markup on the Issue Overview tab.

What to Fix First

1. Critical and serious issues on your key pages: forms, checkout, sign-in and navigation.
2. Issues on many pages: these usually come from a shared template. See Component grouping.
3. Everything else, starting with the highest counts.

After you deploy a fix, select Scan now to confirm it. The Overview’s Resolved since last scan counts what you fixed.

Visitors who need larger text or stronger contrast can also use the optional PageAssist accessibility toolbar, but it does not replace fixing the issue.