Is my Squarespace, Shopify, Wix or GoDaddy website ADA compliant?

The short answer

ADA compliance for a website is about accessibility: whether people with disabilities can use it, with a screen reader (software that reads the page aloud), with the keyboard alone, or zoomed in. Squarespace, Shopify, Wix and GoDaddy all give you a reasonable start. None of them says your site meets the law because you built it with them:

• Squarespace: "You're responsible for making sure your site complies with all legal requirements that apply to your business."
• Shopify: following its guidelines "doesn't guarantee that your online store is fully accessible."
• Wix: "we cannot guarantee that your site will be compliant with your region's accessibility laws and regulations."
• GoDaddy: its help pages for Websites + Marketing don't cover accessibility at all, beyond alt text.

What the law asks of a business website

The ADA (Title III, for businesses open to the public) has no regulation that sets a technical standard for business websites. The Department of Justice says businesses have "flexibility in how they comply", but must still make what they offer online usable by people with disabilities. It points to WCAG (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) as "helpful guidance", and WCAG level AA is what lawyers and courts usually measure against. More in ADA website rules for small businesses.

What every builder leaves to you

• Alt text (a short description of each picture, read out to blind visitors).
• Words inside pictures, like a sale banner made in a design app. A screen reader can't read them.
• Colors you pick: pale gray text or text over a busy photo can be too faint to read.
• Headings in order, so a page has one main heading and sections under it, not big bold text used for looks.
• Link words that make sense alone: "Opening hours", not "Click here".
• Captions on videos and PDFs you upload, like menus and forms.
• Anything you add: apps, embeds, booking or chat tools, custom code. They can break keyboard use even when the theme is fine.

Is Squarespace ADA compliant?

Squarespace builds some accessibility in, and says plainly that meeting the law is your job.

• Built in: a Skip to Content link that appears when someone presses Tab, a visible outline as people tab through links and fields, and labeled fields on its forms.
• Alt text on an image block: click Edit, click the image, then the pencil icon. On the Content tab, fill in Image alt text.
• Galleries: in a gallery section, the image's description is used as its alt text. In a gallery block, the title is used, or the description if there's no title.
• Products: on the image's ... menu, choose Edit metadata, then Alt text (up to 200 characters). Leave it empty and the product's name is used.
• Background images get no alt text: Squarespace treats them as decoration. Don't put words or anything important in a background image.
• Find missing alt text: Squarespace's SEO Report flags images without it.

Is Shopify ADA compliant?

Shopify's free themes in its Theme Store have to pass accessibility requirements: keyboard access (drop-down menus included), a visible focus outline, readable contrast, labeled form fields and an automated accessibility score. That's a good start for the theme, not for your store. Shopify's own report on its checkout says merchants are responsible for making sure their store meets laws like the ADA.

• Alt text on product photos: in your Shopify admin, go to Products, click the product, click the photo, then Add alt text, type it and click Save alt text.
• Other pictures (banners, slideshows): add alt text in the theme editor, on each image's settings.
• Slideshows that move on their own are hard for many people. Shopify's own guidance covers slideshows and videos; turning off auto-rotate is the simplest fix.
• Apps add their own pop-ups, reviews and chat boxes to your store. Test each one with the keyboard (below).
• A theme bought elsewhere, or edited code, may not meet the Theme Store's rules.

Is Wix ADA compliant?

Wix has the most help built in: the Accessibility Wizard scans your site and lists what to fix.

1. Open your site in the editor (the Wix Editor or Wix Studio).
2. Click Settings at the top, then Accessibility Wizard.
3. Click Scan Site. Work through both tabs: Detected issues (things it found) and Manual tasks (things only you can judge).

• It checks things like the site's language, page titles, headings, alt text and color contrast. Wix says it doesn't scan every part of a site.
• Alt text: click the image, click the Settings icon, and fill in What's in the image?
• On the newer Wix Harmony editor, the path is different: Wix has a separate help page for it.

Is a GoDaddy website ADA compliant?

GoDaddy's help center calls its builder Websites + Marketing (with Airo as its AI builder). We found no GoDaddy help page about accessibility or the ADA for it, so you can't lean on a built-in checker. Two things you can do in the builder:

• Alt text: go to Websites + Marketing, click Manage, then Edit Website. Select the image and fill in the Image Description box. For the picture at the top of the page, use Cover Media.
• Everything else: check it yourself with the tools and the keyboard test below.

What about an accessibility widget?

None of these builders adds an accessibility widget (the button that opens a menu of text sizes and contrast modes). Apps and code from other companies can add one. Wix says these toolbars aren't needed to meet WCAG, and points you to its Accessibility Wizard instead. A widget doesn't fix missing alt text, unlabeled forms or a menu you can't reach with the keyboard, and businesses using them have still been sued. More in Accessibility overlays and widgets.

Check your own site

Do these on your home page, a product or service page, and your contact or checkout page. Fix the ones marked Fix first in a week or two; the rest when you can.

1. Accessibility Check reads a page's code for missing labels, links with no words, zoom turned off and more.
2. Picture Check lists pictures with no alt text, and photos whose words don't match what's in them.
3. Color check tells you if your text and background colors are readable, and suggests a nearby color that is.
4. The keyboard test: put the mouse away and press Tab. Can you see where you are, open the menu, add to cart and send a form?

These checks find many common problems, not all of them. They can't tell whether your alt text makes sense or whether a person using a screen reader can finish a purchase. For a bigger store, ask an accessibility specialist to test it with real assistive technology. And add an accessibility page that gives people a way to tell you when something doesn't work: the Accessibility statement tool writes one.