Simple Website Accessibility Checks for Rhode Island Small Businesses
Accessibility sounds like a big technical project, but at the small-business level it's really just making sure more people can use your site. That includes older customers, people with low vision, folks using a phone in bright sun, and anyone who isn't great with a mouse. It's the right thing to do, and it helps more people actually complete a call, form, or booking.
I'm Tim, a web designer in Warwick. You don't need an audit team to start. Here are the checks any owner can run in an afternoon, and the ones worth handing to a developer.
Why this matters (beyond doing the right thing)
Every person who can't read your text, find your button, or fill out your form is a customer you lose silently. Accessibility overlaps almost completely with just good, clear design, which is why fixing it tends to help everyone, not only people with disabilities. The general standard people aim for is WCAG AA, but you can make real progress without memorizing any of that.
Contrast and readability
Your text should be easy to read against its background. Light gray on white, or thin fancy fonts, might look sleek to you but are a struggle for a lot of people.
Check it: look at your main paragraph text on your phone, outside if you can. If you're squinting, others are too. Darken the text or bump up the font size on mobile. And never rely on color alone to mean something, "click the red button" doesn't help someone who can't tell which one is red, so label the button too.
Keyboard and focus
Plenty of people navigate with a keyboard or assistive tech instead of a mouse. As they tab through your site, the link or button they're on should show a visible outline or highlight.
Check it: put your mouse aside and press Tab through your homepage. Can you reach every link and button? Does each one show a clear outline when it's selected? If the highlight vanishes, that's a job for your developer, ask them to restore visible focus styles.
Form labels
Every field in your contact or quote form needs a real, visible label so screen readers and anyone in a hurry knows what to type.
Check it: open your form. "Name," "Email," "Message", each input should have a label that stays put. Labels that only appear as faint placeholder text inside the box disappear once someone starts typing, which is confusing. Real labels are better. (This pairs well with keeping forms short and clear, which I cover in website copy that answers real questions.)
Images and alt text
Photos that carry information, your products, your team, your location, need short, accurate descriptions (alt text) so they still communicate if the image doesn't load or someone's using a screen reader. Purely decorative images can have empty alt text.
Check it: skim your main pages and, for each important image, imagine it failed to load. Would the alt text still tell someone what mattered? Keep it short and honest, "finished cedar deck," not "beautiful amazing project."
A few things to hand your developer
Some fixes are quick for you; others belong with whoever built the site:
- Restoring visible focus outlines
- Making sure the site works with text zoomed in
- Proper heading structure (one main heading per page, in order)
- Ensuring tap targets are big enough on mobile
Keeping the site light and fast also helps people on older phones and slower connections, which is part of accessibility too, more on that in lighter, faster pages.
A simple accessibility checklist
- Text is easy to read; contrast is strong
- Color isn't the only way you signal something
- You can tab through the whole page and see where you are
- Every form field has a real label
- Important images have short, accurate alt text
- The site still works with text zoomed in
One pass is enough to start
You don't have to fix everything today. Pick one area, often forms or contrast, improve it, and schedule another pass next quarter. Steady progress beats a perfect plan you never start.
If you'd rather have accessibility built in from the start, that's how I work, clean, accessible sites for Rhode Island small businesses. Take a look at the services I offer or tell me about your site and I'll make it usable for more of your customers.
Current pricing
| Feature | Starter | Plus | Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 75 dollars | 250 dollars | scoped |
| Pages | 1 page | Flexible pages and sections | Scoped pages and features |
| Contact | Tap to email (prefilled) | Form to your email | Advanced forms or embeds |
| SEO (on-page, one-time) | Meta, structure, sitemap.xml, robots.txt | + local terms and town-focused structure | + tailored on-page tuning for your area |
| Content help | Copywriting included | Copywriting included | Copywriting included |