CerebralCheck · Online store guide
A more accessible store makes shopping easier for more people.
If you run a small online store, your website should help people understand your products, choose the right options, and complete a purchase without unnecessary barriers. Use this plain-English guide as a practical review list.
Three places to look first
Remove friction from the paths shoppers use most.
These checks fit into a regular store review and give a small online-store team concrete changes to discuss with whoever updates the site.
01
Images can help someone choose a product, but the useful information should still be available to people who cannot see the image.
- Write alternative text that explains the product and the detail the image adds, such as “navy linen shirt, front view.” Do not fill it with search keywords.
- Give purely decorative images an empty alternative-text value so they are skipped by assistive technology.
- Keep important product information—price, color, size, material, care, and sale terms—as readable text, not only inside a product image or graphic.
- Make gallery controls descriptive and usable, so a person can tell which product view each control opens without relying on the picture alone.
02
Product options should make sense when someone reads them, tabs through them, or uses a screen reader to understand the current choice.
- Give every option group a visible label, such as “Size” or “Color,” and connect the label to its controls.
- Make the current selection clear in more than one way. Do not use color alone to show which swatch or button is selected.
- Make size buttons, color choices, selects, and other option controls reachable and operable with a keyboard.
- Explain unavailable options in text and keep the selected size, color, or variant understandable after an option changes.
03
Shopping should remain understandable from the product page through the final order step, including when something needs attention.
- Use descriptive control names such as “Add blue, medium shirt to cart” and “Remove linen shirt,” rather than unlabeled icons or “Click here.”
- Give quantity fields and increase/decrease controls clear labels, sensible limits, and a current value that assistive technology can understand.
- Keep keyboard focus visible and make cart updates, validation errors, and order status messages easy to find and understand.
- Check the whole checkout path with a keyboard: customer details, delivery, payment, review, and correction of errors should all be possible without a mouse.
A clear note on scope
A scan is a starting point, not a certification.
Automated scans find only some accessibility issues. They do not guarantee legal compliance, and they cannot understand every product choice, interaction, or real shopper experience.
Treat a scan as a first look: use it to find possible issues and choose what to review next. Pair it with keyboard testing, content review, and feedback from people who use different access needs. CerebralCheck does not certify a website as accessible.
Get a free first look at your storeA practical review path
Turn one scan into a short list of next steps.
- 01
Scan a public URL
Use the free scan for a first look at supported findings on the store page you want to review.
- 02
Try the shopping paths
Test product images, options, cart updates, checkout controls, and focus as a shopper would.
- 03
Fix and recheck
Make the clearest change first, then review again after the store is updated.
Ready when you are
Give your online store a clearer first look.
Enter a public URL to run the free scan, then use this guide to decide what deserves a closer human review.
Run the free scan