How to Make Your Wix Website More Accessible

Imagine building a beautifully designed Wix website, crafting every page with care, only to discover that thousands of potential visitors simply can't navigate it.

That's the reality for the 1.3 billion people worldwide who live with some form of disability. Many of them depend on screen readers, keyboard navigation, captions, and other assistive technologies to browse the web. When a website isn't built with those needs in mind, it doesn't just create friction—it creates a wall.

Here's the thing: most Wix website owners aren't building inaccessible sites on purpose. They just don't know what to look for. And the consequences of that gap go beyond user experience.

Businesses that fail to make their websites accessible face a rising tide of legal risk. In 2024 alone, 8,800 ADA Title III federal complaints were filed—a 7% increase from the year before. The legal and financial costs of non-compliance site can reach six figures, and small businesses are not immune. In fact, nearly 67% of ADA lawsuits target companies with less than $25 million in annual revenue.

But this isn't just a story about avoiding lawsuits. An accessible Wix website is a better website—for everyone. It's easier to navigate, faster to load, better for SEO, and more welcoming to a broader audience. This guide will walk you through exactly how to get there.

What Is Wix Website Accessibility?

Wix Website accessibility means designing and developing your Wix site so that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with it effectively.

The two frameworks that define what accessible means in practice are:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The ADA was signed into law in 1990 to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. While it was originally written to address physical spaces, U.S. courts have consistently interpreted it to cover websites and digital platforms as well. If your site is public-facing, it's almost certainly subject to ADA requirements.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

WCAG is the internationally recognized technical standard for web accessibility, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The current benchmark most businesses should meet is WCAG 2.1 Level AA, which is also the standard referenced by the U.S. Department of Justice in its 2024 final rule on digital accessibility under Title II of the ADA.

WCAG is built around four core principles. Content must be:

• Perceivable — Users can see, hear, or otherwise sense your content
• Operable — Users can navigate and interact, even using a keyboard alone
• Understandable — Content is clear, readable, and predictable
• Robust — Content works with current and future assistive technologies

Meeting WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the clearest path to making your Wix website ADA compliant—and to protecting your business from legal risk.

Common Accessibility Issues Found on Wix Websites

Before you can fix your Wix website, you need to understand what typically goes wrong. Here are the most common accessibility barriers found on Wix sites:

1. Images Without Alt Text

Alt text is a short written description of an image that screen readers read aloud for visually impaired users. According to WebAIM's 2025 analysis, 55.5% of web pages still have images missing alt text. On Wix, images are added visually and alt text is optional—which means it's routinely skipped.

2. Poor Color Contrast

Text that doesn't contrast sufficiently with its background is difficult or impossible to read for people with low vision or color blindness. Low-contrast text is the single most common WCAG failure, affecting 79.1% of homepages globally. Light grey text on a white background, or yellow text on a cream background, are classic offenders.

3. No Keyboard Navigation

Some users with motor disabilities can't use a mouse. They rely entirely on a keyboard (Tab, Enter, arrow keys) to move through a page. Wix websites with interactive elements like popups, slideshows, and dropdown menus often aren't tested for keyboard usability, leaving these users stranded.

4. Videos Without Captions

Users who are deaf or hard of hearing rely on captions to access video content. Auto-generated captions (the kind YouTube provides by default) are often inaccurate and don't qualify as accessible captions under WCAG. If your Wix site includes video, it needs proper, accurate closed captions.

5. Forms Without Proper Labels

If an input field just says Enter your name here as placeholder text, a screen reader may not communicate its purpose clearly once the user starts typing. Form fields need properly associated label elements—something Wix's default form builder doesn't always handle automatically.

6. Missing or Incorrect Heading Structure

Headings (H1, H2, H3) aren't just visual—they create an outline that screen reader users navigate to find content quickly. A Wix page with large bold text styled to look like a heading, but not marked as one, breaks this navigation system entirely.

7. Inaccessible Popups and Modals

Popups are everywhere on Wix websites, often used for email signups, promotions, or announcements. But many are built without keyboard traps (preventing focus from escaping the modal) or without an accessible close button, making them impossible for screen reader users to dismiss.

8. Missing Focus Indicators

When a keyboard user tabs through a page, they need to see a visible highlight around whatever element is currently focused. Many Wix themes hide or remove these focus rings in favor of a cleaner aesthetic—but doing so renders keyboard navigation nearly unusable.

Steps to Make Your Wix Website More Accessible

Here's a practical roadmap for improving accessibility on your Wix site, whether you're just getting started or looking to take your compliance further.

Step 1: Choose an Accessible Template

Wix offers a selection of templates that are built with accessibility in mind. When starting a new site or doing a redesign, choose from these templates as your base. They include better semantic structure and default settings that support assistive technologies. Within the Wix editor, look for the Accessibility section in your site settings as a starting point.

Step 2: Add Alt Text to Every Image

For every image on your Wix site, click on the image, go to Settings, and fill in the Alt Text field with a concise, descriptive sentence about what's shown. Decorative images (like background textures or dividers) should have empty alt text so screen readers skip them. Make this a standard part of your content upload process.

Step 3: Check and Fix Color Contrast

Use a free tool like the WebAIM Contrast Checker to test your text and background color combinations. WCAG 2.1 AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. If your brand colors fail this test, consider adjusting the shading slightly rather than overhauling your entire palette.

Step 4: Use Wix's Built-In Accessibility Settings

Wix has an Accessibility Wizard (found under Settings > Accessibility) that scans your site and flags common issues like missing alt text, unnamed buttons, and unclear links. It's a useful starting point, but keep in mind it won't catch everything—particularly issues related to custom code, third-party apps, or complex interactive elements.

Step 5: Structure Your Headings Properly

In the Wix editor, use the text format dropdown to properly assign H1, H2, and H3 tags rather than just changing font sizes. Each page should have exactly one H1 (your main page title), followed by H2s for main sections and H3s for subsections within those. This creates a logical, navigable outline for screen reader visitors.

Step 6: Add Captions and Transcripts to Video

If you embed videos directly in Wix or link to YouTube/Vimeo, ensure they have accurate closed captions. For YouTube videos, edit the auto-generated captions to correct errors. For videos with important audio information, consider adding a text transcript beneath the video as well.

Step 7: Test Your Forms

Click through your forms as if you were using only a keyboard. Can you tab to every field? Can you submit the form without a mouse? Do error messages clearly identify what went wrong and how to fix it? If any of these fail, your form needs attention—either through Wix's settings or a more accessible form solution.

Step 8: Restore or Add Focus Indicators

In your Wix site's CSS settings, ensure focus outlines are visible. A simple rule can make a significant difference for keyboard users without impacting your visual design for mouse users.

Step 9: Install a Wix Accessibility Widget or Plugin

Even after addressing the issues above, fully meeting WCAG 2.1 AA typically requires more than manual fixes alone. This is where a Wix accessibility widget or compliance plugin becomes valuable.

These tools add an interactive accessibility toolbar to your site—usually a small icon in the corner—that lets users customize their experience. Common features include:

• Text size adjustment
• High-contrast and color-blind modes
• Cursor enlargement
• Reading guides and dyslexia-friendly fonts
• Keyboard navigation enhancements
• Screen reader optimization

For Wix website owners looking to make their site ADA compliant in a structured, scalable way, these plugins fill the gap between what you can accomplish through the editor alone and what full compliance actually requires.

Using Accessibility Tools and Plugins for Your Wix Website

Wix's built-in Accessibility Wizard is a helpful first step, but it addresses only a fraction of the full WCAG 2.1 AA checklist. For most businesses, especially those serving a broad public audience or operating in industries with higher litigation exposure, a dedicated accessibility solution is the smarter path.

What a Good Wix Accessibility Solution Should Do

When evaluating any Wix ada compliance plugin, look for:

• Automated scanning that identifies issues across your entire site, not just on single pages
• A user-facing accessibility interface that allows visitors to adapt the site to their own needs
• Ongoing monitoring that flags new accessibility issues when you update content
• Documentation to support your compliance posture if questions arise
• Ease of installation within the Wix environment without requiring developer expertise

ADA Tray for Wix

One solution built specifically for platform-based websites like Wix is ADA Tray. It's designed to be straightforward for website owners who aren't developers—no code required, no complicated setup.

ADA Tray adds a clean, customizable accessibility widget to your Wix site that gives users the adjustments they need to browse comfortably. Behind the scenes, it also handles a range of technical accessibility requirements that are difficult to address through the Wix editor alone, helping bridge the gap between a visually polished Wix site and one that's genuinely usable for everyone.

If you're looking to make your Wix website ADA-compliant without overhauling your design or hiring a developer, it's worth taking a closer look at what ADA Tray offers Wix users.

Conclusion: Accessibility Is an Investment, Not Just an Obligation

Making your Wix website more accessible is one of the most meaningful improvements you can make—for your users, your search rankings, your brand, and your peace of mind.

The path forward doesn't have to be overwhelming. Start with the fundamentals: add alt text, fix your heading structure, check your color contrast, and use Wix's built-in Accessibility Wizard to surface quick wins. Then layer in a Wix accessibility widget to address the more technical requirements and give your visitors the ability to tailor their experience.

Most importantly, treat accessibility as an ongoing commitment rather than a checkbox. As your site grows and evolves, your accessibility practices should grow with it.

Here's a quick summary of what we covered:

• Website accessibility is about making your site usable for people with disabilities, guided by the ADA and WCAG 2.1 AA standards
• 1.3 billion people worldwide live with a disability, and 69% will abandon a website they can't use
• Over 8,800 ADA complaints were filed in 2024, and small businesses are frequent targets
• Common Wix accessibility issues include missing alt text, poor contrast, unlabeled forms, and missing keyboard navigation
• Actionable fixes include proper heading structure, captioned videos, keyboard testing, and contrast corrections
• Accessibility tools like ADA Tray's Wix integration can help bridge the gap between what the editor supports and what full compliance requires
• Ongoing audits, documentation, and a content checklist are essential for maintaining compliance as your site grows

Ready to take the next step? If you're looking for a practical, Wix-friendly way to move toward ADA compliance, explore how ADA Tray works specifically for Wix websites. It's a clear, no-code option for business owners who want to make their site more welcoming—without needing to become a WCAG expert overnight.