Low color contrast was the most common accessibility issue in a 2026 scan of 1,025 websites, flagged on 46.9% of them (481 sites). Links with no accessible name (38.8%) and undersized touch targets (34.5%) followed. The study comes from Umair Ahmed, in a SitePoint community article published September 16, 2026. SitePoint labels such pieces as contributors’ views, not necessarily its own.
Read the numbers as a prioritized checklist of recurring implementation mistakes, not as a measure of how accessible the web is. The sample wasn’t random, and automated scanning catches only part of the problem. Below are the ten findings, the caveats that change how to read them, and the fix for each.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The ten most common issues
Each percentage is the share of sites in this study’s sample, with the author’s reported counts. The sites were scanned between March and September 2026.
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minutePC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11| # | Issue | Sites affected | WCAG reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Low color contrast | 46.9% (481) | 1.4.3, Level AA |
| 2 | Links with no accessible name | 38.8% (398) | 2.4.4 and 4.1.2, Level A |
| 3 | Touch targets under 44×44 CSS px (custom check) | 34.5% (354) | 2.5.5, Level AAA |
| 4 | Images with no text alternative | 20.1% (206) | 1.1.1, Level A |
| 5 | Skipped heading levels | 14.0% (143) | Best practice, not a WCAG failure by itself |
| 6 | Iframes with no title | 12.2% (125) | 4.1.2, Level A |
| 7 | Buttons with no accessible name | 10.3% (106) | 4.1.2, Level A |
| 8 | Generic link text such as “click here” (custom check) | 9.9% (101) | 2.4.4, Level A |
| 9 | ARIA attributes unsupported on the element | 9.5% (97) | 4.1.2, Level A |
| 10 | Zoom disabled in the viewport meta tag | 7.7% (79) | 1.4.4, Level AA |
How to read these numbers
What was counted
- One latest completed scan per website. Domains were deduplicated after stripping
www., and test domains were excluded. - About 40% of scans crawled several pages. The rest generally checked one page, often the home page.
- A site counted as affected if an issue appeared on any scanned page. Sites with more pages scanned therefore had more chances to be flagged.
- Just over half the sites came from industry samples of business sites. The rest were submitted by people checking their own or clients’ sites, some of whom may already have suspected problems.
- Most checks used axe-core. Link-text quality and touch-target size were custom checks. All image-alt rules were merged into one category.
What the scans can’t see
Contrast automation can’t assess text over images, gradients or video when it can’t read both colors, so those cases were left for manual review. Automated scans also don’t judge whether alt text is accurate, whether focus order makes sense, or whether a custom dropdown works with a keyboard. In the author’s words: “No scanner can tell you whether your alt text is accurate, whether focus order makes sense, or whether a custom dropdown works with a keyboard.” The author treats the results as a floor, and every finding is a single scan that may be out of date now.
The 44px finding is stricter than AA
The touch-target check uses 44×44 CSS pixels, from WCAG 2.5.5, a Level AAA criterion. The AA requirement in WCAG 2.2 is criterion 2.5.8, with a lower 24×24 CSS pixel minimum and a spacing exception. A site flagged at 44px doesn’t necessarily fail AA. Still, 44px is a sensible design target for fingers.
Compared with WebAIM’s 2026 Million
WebAIM’s 2026 evaluation analyzed the home pages of the top one million websites with the WAVE engine (results from February 2026). It found detected WCAG failures on 95.9% of home pages, an average of 56.1 detectable errors per page, and low-contrast text on 83.9%. Missing image alt text appeared on 53.1%, missing form labels on 51%, empty links on 46.3% and empty buttons on 30.6%. WebAIM cautions that no automated tool detects every failure, and that no detected errors doesn’t prove conformance.
Don’t set 46.9% against 83.9% as if one source shows contrast improving. The sampling frames, page coverage, engines and definitions differ: one is a non-random set of site scans, sometimes multi-page; the other is ranked home pages scanned with WAVE. The consistent message is that contrast, unnamed links and buttons, and missing alt text are widespread in both.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsHow to fix each issue
1. Low color contrast
Measure ratios rather than judging by eye. WCAG 1.4.3 requires at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. The article’s example: a red on white that fails at 4.13:1, and a darker red that passes at 5.47:1. Text over images, gradients and video needs manual checking, since scanners often skip it.
Rank #3
2 and 7. Links and buttons with no accessible name
Icon-only controls need a name. If there’s room, use visible text. For an icon-only link, the article’s approach is an aria-label on the link and hiding the decorative SVG from assistive technology:
<a href="/cart" aria-label="Shopping cart">
<svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false">…</svg>
</a>3. Small touch targets
Enlarge padding or hit areas on icons, close buttons and tightly packed links. Aim for 44×44 CSS pixels where you can, and treat 24×24 with adequate spacing as the WCAG 2.2 AA floor.
Rank #4
4. Missing image alternatives
Give meaningful images informative alt text and decorative images an empty alt="". A scanner can only confirm the attribute exists. A person has to judge whether the text is accurate and useful.
5. Skipped heading levels
Choose heading levels to reflect document structure (h2 under h1, h3 under h2) and control appearance with CSS. This is a best-practice issue, not a WCAG failure on its own, but it makes screen-reader navigation harder.
6. Iframes with no title
Add a meaningful title to embedded maps, videos, booking widgets and chat tools. If a third-party script generates the iframe, look in the provider’s settings for a way to set it.
8. Generic link text
Keep the visible words in the accessible name and add context as visually hidden text, for example “Read more about pricing changes“. The author warns that replacing a visible “Read more” with an unrelated aria-label can create a Label in Name problem for voice-control users, who speak the words they see.
9. Unsupported ARIA attributes
Use only states supported by the element and role. For a toggle button the article points to aria-pressed, not aria-selected. Prefer native elements where possible.
Recommended Free Tools
10. Zoom disabled
Remove maximum-scale=1 and user-scalable=no from the viewport meta tag. Browsers handle these differently, so confirm pinch-zoom on a real phone.
A testing routine that goes beyond a scanner
- Add axe to an existing Playwright workflow so regressions fail the build.
- Scan representative templates, not one URL: home, article, form and checkout.
- Tab through the key flows with a keyboard. Check that focus is visible, the order makes sense, and custom widgets operate.
- Test with a screen reader: VoiceOver on Mac or NVDA on Windows.
- Review text over images, gradients and video for contrast by hand.
When comparing any accessibility studies, including this one, check the sampling frame, number and type of pages, scan dates, engine and custom rules, thresholds, and whether rates refer to sites or home pages.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
