WCAG success criteria: what automation can check
EN 301 549 chapter 9 maps 50 WCAG success criteria to European law. For the 31 criteria our scanner covers, each page below names the exact automated checks — axe-core rules and our own browser checks — and what they still cannot prove. The remaining 19 depend on meaning and judgement; no automated page would add anything beyond their name, so they link nowhere.
How the numbers are derived — and their limits — is documented in what our scanner checks.
1. Perceivable
Content must be presentable in ways people can perceive — text alternatives, captions, contrast, reflow.
- 1.1.1 Non-text content
- 1.2.1 Audio-only and video-only (pre-recorded)
- 1.2.2 Captions (pre-recorded)
- 1.2.3 Audio description or media alternative (pre-recorded) — manual review only
- 1.2.4 Captions (live) — manual review only
- 1.2.5 Audio description (pre-recorded) — manual review only
- 1.3.1 Info and relationships
- 1.3.2 Meaningful sequence — manual review only
- 1.3.3 Sensory characteristics — manual review only
- 1.3.4 Orientation
- 1.3.5 Identify input purpose
- 1.4.1 Use of colour
- 1.4.2 Audio control
- 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum)
- 1.4.4 Resize text
- 1.4.5 Images of text — manual review only
- 1.4.10 Reflow
- 1.4.11 Non-text contrast — manual review only
- 1.4.12 Text spacing
- 1.4.13 Content on hover or focus — manual review only
2. Operable
Interface and navigation must be usable — keyboard access, enough time, clear focus, ways to find pages.
- 2.1.1 Keyboard
- 2.1.2 No keyboard trap
- 2.1.4 Character key shortcuts — manual review only
- 2.2.1 Timing adjustable
- 2.2.2 Pause, stop, hide
- 2.3.1 Three flashes or below threshold — manual review only
- 2.4.1 Bypass blocks
- 2.4.2 Page titled
- 2.4.3 Focus Order
- 2.4.4 Link purpose (in context)
- 2.4.5 Multiple ways
- 2.4.6 Headings and labels
- 2.4.7 Focus visible
- 2.5.1 Pointer gestures — manual review only
- 2.5.2 Pointer cancellation — manual review only
- 2.5.3 Label in name
- 2.5.4 Motion actuation — manual review only
3. Understandable
Content and operation must be predictable — language, consistent navigation, help with errors.
- 3.1.1 Language of page
- 3.1.2 Language of parts
- 3.2.1 On focus — manual review only
- 3.2.2 On input — manual review only
- 3.2.3 Consistent navigation
- 3.2.4 Consistent identification
- 3.3.1 Error identification — manual review only
- 3.3.2 Labels or instructions
- 3.3.3 Error suggestion — manual review only
- 3.3.4 Error prevention (legal, financial, data) — manual review only
4. Robust
Content must work with assistive technology, now and as it changes.
- 4.1.1 Parsing
- 4.1.2 Name, role, value
- 4.1.3 Status messages — manual review only
Scan your website Free instant scan against every automated check listed here.