Button without a name
WCAG 2.2 4.1.2 Name, role, value, Level A
27 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- The shopper hears “button” with no hint whether it closes a drawer, adds to cart or opens the menu.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Icon-only buttons: drawer close, slider arrows, quantity plus and minus, menu and search toggles.
- Direction for a fix
- Put an aria-label or visually hidden text on the button and hide the icon inside it with aria-hidden="true".
- Examples from the demo store
button.header__icons--hoverbutton.search__button--resetbutton.heading-group__navigation-button
Link without a name
WCAG 2.2 2.4.4 Link purpose (in context), Level A
12 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- A screen reader announces “link” and nothing else, so the shopper cannot tell where it leads.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Icon links in the header (account, cart), social media icons in the footer, image-only links on product cards and collection tiles.
- Direction for a fix
- Add visually hidden text or an aria-label to icon links, for example “Cart” or “Instagram”. For an image link, give the image an alt text.
- Examples from the demo store
a.header__full-screen-menu__overlay--link
Clickable element that is not a button or link
WCAG 2.2 4.1.2 Name, role, value, Level A
11 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- A div or span with a click handler cannot be reached with the Tab key and is not announced as clickable.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Custom colour swatches, accordions, tabs and quick view triggers built from div or span elements.
- Direction for a fix
- Use a button element for actions and a link for navigation.
- Examples from the demo store
div.banner-grid__contentdiv.media-bannerdiv.button
Form field without a label
WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and relationships, Level A
1 occurrence, found on: Product page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- Without a label a screen reader only says “edit text”, so the shopper cannot tell whether the field is for an e-mail address, a quantity or a discount code.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Newsletter sign-up in the footer, the search field in the header, quantity fields in the cart, price range filters on collections.
- Direction for a fix
- Connect every field to a label element with for and id (it may be visually hidden) or give it an aria-label. A placeholder is not a label.
- Examples from the demo store
input#ContactForm-email (type="email")
aria-labelledby or aria-describedby points to a missing element
WCAG 2.2 4.1.2 Name, role, value, Level A
52 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- The element was meant to take its name or description from another element that is not on the page, so the screen reader has nothing to read.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Product cards that point at sale or sold-out badges which are only rendered in some cases, form error messages, dialogs.
- Direction for a fix
- Output the reference only when the target element is rendered, or always render the target.
- Examples from the demo store
aria-labelledby → "title-template--29134024868183__popular-products-10641448894807"aria-labelledby → "title-template--29134024868183__popular-products-10640986308951"aria-labelledby → "title-template--29134024868183__popular-products-10641111384407"
The same id is used more than once
WCAG 2.2 4.1.2 Name, role, value, Level A
38 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- Labels, error messages and aria references can point at the wrong element, so a field or control may lose its name.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Sections rendered twice on one page, such as desktop and mobile headers, cart drawer and cart page, or country and language selectors in both header and footer.
- Direction for a fix
- Make generated ids unique, for example by adding the section id to them.
- Examples from the demo store
"HeaderLanguageForm", 3×"HeaderLanguageList", 3×"QuickAdd-10640986308951", 2×
Heading levels skip a step
WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and relationships, Level A
5 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- People who move through a page by headings expect the levels to nest. A jump from h2 to h4 suggests a missing part.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Section headings, product card titles and footer column headings, where the level is chosen for its font size.
- Direction for a fix
- Choose heading levels from the structure of the page and set the size with a class.
- Examples from the demo store
Positive tabindex changes the tab order
WCAG 2.2 2.4.3 Focus order, Level A
4 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- The keyboard focus jumps to these elements first, out of reading order.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Sliders, pop-ups, newsletter modals and custom widgets.
- Direction for a fix
- Remove positive tabindex values. Use tabindex="0" where needed and order elements in the markup.
- Examples from the demo store
Page without an h1 heading
WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and relationships, Level A
2 occurrences, found on: Product page, Cart page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- Screen reader users often jump to the first-level heading to learn what a page is about.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- The main title of a template: collection banner, product title in the main product section, cart title. Some templates style the title as a heading without using an h1.
- Direction for a fix
- Render the main title of every template as one h1.
Icon without a text alternative or a decorative mark
WCAG 2.2 1.1.1 Non-text content, Level A
107 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- If the icon carries meaning, such as a payment method or “free shipping”, a screen reader user misses it. If it is decoration, it should be hidden from screen readers.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Icon snippets, payment icons in the footer, trust and feature icons.
- Direction for a fix
- Hide decorative icons with aria-hidden="true". Give meaningful icons role="img" and an aria-label or a title element.
- What the test can see
- The test cannot tell a decorative icon from a meaningful one, so each of these needs a quick look.
- Examples from the demo store
Focus moves when the page loads
WCAG 2.2 3.2.1 On focus, Level A
1 occurrence, found on: Product page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- Screen reader users start somewhere unexpected and miss the top of the page.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Search fields and pop-ups with the autofocus attribute.
- Direction for a fix
- Remove autofocus and move focus only after the shopper opens something.
- Examples from the demo store
div.product-popup-modal__form-message