Selling or serving customers in the EU? The EAA expects WCAG 2.1 AA. See how your Wix site scores right now.
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) applies to e-commerce and consumer-facing services in the EU. If your Wix store sells to EU customers, WCAG 2.1 AA compliance is expected — and enterprise partners increasingly ask for proof before they sign.
Most accessibility problems on Wix sites come from a handful of repeating issues: missing alt text on product images, generic link text like "read more", low-contrast text over theme colours, empty form labels, and missing page language. All of these are detectable automatically — that's what our scanner checks.
16 automated rules covering images, links, forms, headings, language, viewport, contrast, ARIA misuse, and more — mapped to real WCAG success criteria.
Paste your URL, get a letter grade with every issue listed by severity. No account, no email, no waiting for an audit report.
The rule set targets what EU enforcement and enterprise procurement actually look at: WCAG 2.1 AA basics you can document today.
Wix is a closed, fully hosted platform. You cannot drop into the server, edit the HTML <head> directly, or install a single universal accessibility plugin the way you can on WordPress. Every fix happens inside Wix's own editor — the Wix Editor or Wix Studio — using the tools they provide. That means some standard accessibility fixes (skip links, ARIA labels on custom components, semantic landmark regions) require workarounds or custom code via Velo by Wix (formerly Corvid), Wix's development environment.
Wix also has a large third-party app ecosystem (apps from the Wix App Market). Each app brings its own HTML, styles, and scripts — and many are not built with accessibility in mind. A checkout form from one app and a reviews widget from another can introduce contrast failures, unlabelled buttons, or keyboard traps that Wix's own editor never touches. This makes regular automated scanning even more important.
If you built your site in the classic Wix Editor, accessibility settings live in the same familiar toolbar — click an element, open Settings, find the Accessibility or Design tab. Wix Studio (the newer, more powerful builder) gives you deeper control over responsive breakpoints, CSS variables, and custom code, but the core accessibility workflow is the same: images get alt text in their settings panel, text colours and heading levels are adjusted per element, and forms are configured through the form builder.
Wix provides a built-in Accessibility Wizard accessible from the Editor toolbar (Tools → Accessibility Wizard — or the accessibility icon in the top bar). The wizard checks for missing alt text, heading hierarchy, and basic contrast on the current page. It's a useful starting point, but it has significant gaps:
The bottom line: the Accessibility Wizard helps you find the low-hanging fruit, but a third-party automated scan covers every page on your site in seconds and catches the gaps the wizard leaves open.
When your scan flags a failing rule, here's where to fix it in the Wix Editor:
| Issue | Where to fix in Wix |
|---|---|
| Missing alt text | Click the image → Settings (gear icon) → Accessibility → Alt Text field. Images uploaded via Wix Media Manager also have alt text fields. |
| Low contrast text | Click the text element → Settings panel → Design → Text colour. Wix's default palettes can produce low contrast — test with a contrast checker. |
| Missing heading structure | Click a heading element → Settings → Design → Heading level (H1-H3). Wix limits heading levels in the editor; use the correct hierarchy (one H1, then H2, then H3). |
| Empty form labels | Wix forms use fields with built-in labels. Check each field in the form editor — ensure the label text is visible, not hidden. |
| Generic link text | Click the link/text → Link icon → edit the visible text. Replace "Click here" with descriptive text like "View our size guide". |
| Missing skip-to-content | Wix doesn't include a skip link by default. Add it via a Site Element (HTML embed) with code: <a href="#main-content" class="skip-link">Skip to content</a>. Set CSS position absolute. |
Beyond the common fixes table above, Wix has platform-specific features and settings that directly affect your WCAG score. Here is what to look for and where to find it.
Open the Wix Editor, click the accessibility icon (stick figure) in the top toolbar, or go to Tools → Accessibility Wizard. The wizard walks you through each page and flags missing alt text, broken heading order, and low-contrast text. Run it on every page as your first pass, then follow up with our scanner to catch what the wizard misses. Expect the wizard to take 5–10 minutes per page on a typical site. For a 20-page storefront, that is over two hours of manual work — a good reason to use an automated bulk scan for the follow-up pass.
WCAG 2.1 requires a lang attribute on every page. Wix sets this automatically based on your site's primary language (Settings → Language & Region). If you run a multi-language site via Wix Multilingual, verify that each language variant declares its own language code. The SEO dashboard (Marketing & SEO → SEO Tools) also lets you inspect the HTML <head> snippet for each page — a quick place to confirm the lang attribute is present. Missing or wrong lang attributes are an automatic WCAG failure.
Wix Forms (available as a built-in element in the Editor) generates form fields with HTML <label> elements automatically — but only if you fill in the field's label text in the form builder. If you use a Custom HTML form embed instead of the native Wix Forms element, you must add <label> tags yourself. For native Wix forms: click the form → Settings → Fields → verify each field has visible label text. Empty or hidden labels fail WCAG 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
E-commerce sites are the most common Wix use case under EAA scrutiny. For every product in Wix Stores, each image gets an alt text field when you upload it via Product Settings → Media. Make alt text descriptive: "Organic cotton T-shirt in forest green, front view" not just "TSHIRT1". Wix also uses product images in gallery layouts and lightbox views — the same alt text propagates across those contexts, so one good description covers multiple display modes. Alt text is always required for WCAG 1.1.1 (Non-text Content). Our scanner flags every image missing alt text on any page of your site, including product collection pages.
Videos embedded via Wix Video or the Wix Media Player need captions and transcripts to meet WCAG 1.2 (Time-based Media). Wix does not auto-generate captions — you must upload a VTT or SRT file in the video settings panel (click the video element → Settings → Captions). For audio-only content (podcasts, music samples), provide a transcript below the player as text. If you embed YouTube or Vimeo videos, use their built-in caption tools and confirm the player is keyboard-operable. Many third-party video apps on the Wix App Market lack accessibility features entirely — test them with our scanner after installing.
Wix themes and templates ship with preset colour palettes that look modern but can fail WCAG 2.1 AA contrast ratio standards (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text). The Site Design panel (Editor → Site Design → Colours) lets you customise every palette colour. After changing a colour, re-scan the page — our scanner measures contrast on the rendered output, catching overlay and transparency combinations that a design tool alone would miss. Pay special attention to footer text, mobile menu text, and button text on gradient or image backgrounds.
If you use Velo by Wix (the development environment) to add custom interactions, API requests, or dynamic content, you are responsible for that code's accessibility. Velo lets you inject HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into Wix pages. Common Velo-induced issues include: dynamically generated images without alt text, custom buttons with no ARIA role or accessible name, modal popups that trap keyboard focus, and AJAX-loaded content that doesn't announce updates to screen readers. Review any Velo code with the scanner and test manually with a screen reader before publishing.
The Wix App Market offers hundreds of apps — booking widgets, reviews, chat, analytics, cookie consent — that inject their own markup. Each app can introduce accessibility failures that Wix's own tools cannot fix. Before installing any app:
Wix sites change often — templates are swapped, new apps are added, blog posts are published, and seasonal promotions update the home page. Each change risks introducing new accessibility failures. EAA compliance is not a one-time audit; it is an ongoing process. Here is how to keep your Wix site compliant over time.
Wix templates (theme changes, layout swaps, or even a palette update) can reset heading structures, change contrast ratios, or strip alt text from images. After any template or Site Design change, run a full scan on your home page, product pages, and the top three landing pages. Keep a screenshot or PDF of each scan result so you have a timestamped compliance record.
Every time you install or update a Wix App Market add-on:
If your Wix site includes a blog (via Wix Blog), every new post is a compliance risk. Blog posts created by content editors often contain:
Create a simple editorial checklist for anyone who publishes blog posts: (1) every image needs descriptive alt text, (2) links must describe their destination, (3) headings must follow H1 → H2 → H3 order, (4) embedded media requires a transcript or caption. Schedule a monthly re-scan of your blog archive to catch regressions.
Enterprise partners and EU enforcement bodies may ask for evidence of ongoing compliance. Keep a simple log: the date, the URL scanned, the scanner grade, and what you fixed. Our scanner produces a shareable results page — bookmark or save those URLs. A documented history of monthly scans and fixes is the strongest defense if a complaint is filed.
We recommend scanning your Wix site at least once a month and after every significant change. Key trigger events for a scan:
Automated scanning catches roughly a third of accessibility issues — but it catches the ones that are cheapest to fix first. When you want the full picture, our complete guide covers the full WCAG 2.1 AA checklist applied to Wix, manual testing workflows for Velo custom code and third-party apps, a 14-day fix plan tailored to Wix's editor constraints, and guidance on preparing an accessibility statement for EAA compliance. Bookmark this guide and re-visit it as Wix's platform evolves — new editor features sometimes change where settings live, and our scanner keeps pace with the latest WCAG expectations.