Home › Squarespace accessibility

Squarespace accessibility: templates look great, but do they pass WCAG?

Squarespace's designer templates are beautiful, and frequently fail accessibility on the exact things that get sites sued.

What to check on a Squarespace site

• Text contrast on hero sections, captions and buttons: the #1 Squarespace failure. Use our contrast guide.
• Image alt text: Squarespace lets you set it per image, but many sites leave it blank. See the alt-text guide.
• Heading hierarchy: don't pick heading levels for size; keep a logical H1→H2→H3 order.
• Gallery and slideshow blocks: verify keyboard operability and that images carry alt text.
• Form fields: ensure labels are set, not just placeholders.

Fix it in the editor, not with a widget

Almost every Squarespace accessibility issue is fixable in the editor: adjust palette colors, add alt text, fix heading blocks. An overlay widget won't do any of that, and overlay sites still get sued (FTC, $1M, 2025). More in our accessiBe alternative and ADA lawsuit guide.

On another platform?

We have platform-specific guides for WordPress, Shopify and Wix too.

Scan your Squarespace site free

AdaClear scans your published pages against WCAG 2.1/2.2, points at the exact fixes, and monitors continuously so a template change doesn't quietly break things. Start below.