Image without an alt attribute
WCAG 2.2 1.1.1 Non-text content, Level A
9 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, Product page, Cart page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- A screen reader skips the image or reads out its file name, so a blind shopper does not learn what the product photo shows.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Product card and product media snippets, image banners, slideshow and image-with-text sections, and sometimes the logo in the header.
- Direction for a fix
- Output the alt text stored with the image, fall back to the product or section title, and give purely decorative images an empty alt="".
- Examples from the demo store
Button without a name
WCAG 2.2 4.1.2 Name, role, value, Level A
4 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
Text area without a label
WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and relationships, Level A
2 occurrences, found on: Home page, Product page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- A screen reader user does not know what to type into the box.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- The order note in the cart and the message field of a contact form.
- Direction for a fix
- Give the text area a label element connected with for and id, or an aria-label.
- Examples from the demo store
Form field without a label
WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and relationships, Level A
2 occurrences, found on: Collection page, 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#Filter-filter.v.price.gte (type="number")input#quantity-sticky (type="number")
Dropdown without a label
WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and relationships, Level A
1 occurrence, found on: Collection page
- Why it matters for shoppers
- A shopper who cannot see the page does not know whether the dropdown chooses a size, a colour, a sort order or a country.
- Where it usually lives in a Shopify theme
- Variant pickers on the product page, the sort menu on collections, country and language selectors.
- Direction for a fix
- Name each dropdown with a label element (for and id) or an aria-label such as “Size” or “Sort by”.
- Examples from the demo store
The same id is used more than once
WCAG 2.2 4.1.2 Name, role, value, Level A
70 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
"Layer_1", 15×"localization_form_country_sections--18879918407967__header", 2×"localization_form_language_sections--18879918407967__header", 2×
Page without an h1 heading
WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and relationships, Level A
4 occurrences, found on: Home page, Collection page, 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.
aria-labelledby or aria-describedby points to a missing element
WCAG 2.2 4.1.2 Name, role, value, Level A
3 occurrences, found on: Home 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 → "Article-605597401375"aria-labelledby → "Article-605597335839"aria-labelledby → "Article-605597237535"
Icon without a text alternative or a decorative mark
WCAG 2.2 1.1.1 Non-text content, Level A
87 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
svg.icon-closesvgsvg#Layer_1