Most accessibility audits stop the moment axe-core turns green and miss every failure that actually trips real users: focus traps in custom widgets, modal stacks that lose focus on close, live regions that read decorative spam, color-only error states. These prompts force AI to walk the page twice — once as a keyboard-only user and once as a screen-reader user — and to map each finding to a specific WCAG criterion with a 1-line fix. Pair with the accessibility regression audit prompts to lock the fixes in so they don’t drift back in the next release.
Best for
- Pre-launch a11y audits
- WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 compliance reviews
- Custom-component a11y reviews
- Form-flow a11y
- PR-level a11y checks
1. Semantic-HTML audit
Below is a page or component HTML. Audit semantic HTML usage: (a) heading hierarchy, (b) landmarks (header / main / nav / footer), (c) lists vs div soup, (d) buttons vs links vs divs. Each issue with the WCAG criterion and 1-line fix.
{paste HTML}2. Keyboard-navigation walkthrough
Below is a page or component. Walk through it as a keyboard-only user: Tab through every interactive element, list (a) tab order, (b) focus visibility, (c) keyboard traps, (d) skip-link presence. Flag every break.
{paste}3. Screen-reader flow audit
Below is a page. Describe what a screen-reader user would hear from page load through main task completion. Flag every place where: (a) decorative content is announced, (b) meaningful content is missed, (c) state changes are not announced.
{paste}4. Color-contrast checker
Below: my color palette + 10 sample component combinations (text on background). For each, output: contrast ratio, WCAG AA / AAA verdict, and the smallest color adjustment that passes.
{paste colors}5. Form a11y audit
Below is my form. Audit: (a) label association, (b) error-message announcement, (c) required-field indication, (d) keyboard submit, (e) focus management on error, (f) autocomplete attributes.
{paste form HTML}6. Modal / dialog a11y
Below is my modal component. Audit: (a) focus moves into modal, (b) focus trap, (c) Esc closes, (d) aria-modal, (e) focus returns to trigger on close, (f) background scroll prevention. Flag each break.
{paste}7. Custom-widget ARIA review
Below is a custom widget ({tabs / accordion / combobox / etc.}). Compare against the WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices pattern. List deviations and propose the minimum ARIA roles, states, and keyboard handlers to comply.
{paste}8. Image alt-text audit
Below: 10 images on a page with their current alt text. For each: (a) is the image decorative or informational, (b) does the alt text serve its function, (c) is it redundant with adjacent text. Propose corrected alt.
{paste}9. Focus-management audit
Below is a multi-step flow ({paste}). Walk through focus behavior at each transition: (a) where focus starts, (b) where it moves, (c) what is announced. Flag transitions that lose focus.10. Dynamic-content live-region audit
Below: a component that updates dynamically ({toast / search results / form errors}). Audit: (a) is the update announced, (b) is the live region politeness right (polite / assertive), (c) is it announced too often.
{paste}11. Color-only-signal finder
Below is a page or chart. Find every place where information is conveyed by color alone (e.g., red = error with no icon / text). For each, propose a non-color secondary signal.
{paste}12. WCAG criterion mapping
Below is my axe-core / Lighthouse a11y report. For each issue: (a) map to specific WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 criterion, (b) priority (blocker / major / minor), (c) the minimum fix, (d) the manual test to verify.
{paste report}Common mistakes
- Treating axe-core green as “audit done” — automation catches roughly half of WCAG issues at best
- Skipping the keyboard-only walkthrough, so focus traps and missing skip-links never get found
- Building custom tabs/combobox/menu widgets without checking against the WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices pattern
- Error / success states conveyed by color alone — fine for sighted users, invisible to color-blind and screen-reader users
- Modal that traps screen-reader focus but not keyboard focus (or vice versa) — both have to be tested independently
- Live regions that announce decorative updates, training users to ignore the assertive channel
Related
- React component refactor prompts
- Performance optimization prompts
- Code review prompts
- Bug audit prompts
- SEO audit prompts
- Accessibility Regression Audit Prompts: 12 Templates Beyond axe-core
- TypeScript Error Diagnosis Prompts for Cryptic TS Errors
- Migration Plan Prompts: 12 Templates for Framework / DB / Auth Moves
Tags: #Prompt #AI coding #AI coding