For a new Swiss business website, use WCAG 2.2 Level AA as the practical accessibility target. Swiss federal and other covered public-sector services currently work with eCH-0059 version 3, which references WCAG 2.1 AA. Private Swiss companies do not all fall under one blanket rule that says every website must be WCAG-certified, but anti-discrimination duties, procurement requirements and EU-facing services can change the position. The safest commercial approach is to make key customer journeys accessible, test them with people and assistive technology, and document remaining limitations.
This guide was updated in July 2026 using the Swiss eCH-0059 standard, current Federal Administration guidance, W3C WCAG 2.2 and official European Accessibility Act material. It explains the operational implications for website owners; it is not legal advice.
Does your website have to be accessible in Switzerland?
The answer depends on who you are, what service the website provides and where customers receive that service. A federal authority and a small Switzerland-only B2B consultancy should not be given the same compliance sentence.
| Organisation or service | Relevant baseline | Practical website target | What to confirm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swiss federal authority or covered public service | Swiss constitutional, disability-equality and electronic-government framework; eCH-0059 v3 | At least WCAG 2.1 AA where the standard applies; use WCAG 2.2 AA for new work | Applicable federal, cantonal, institutional and procurement rules |
| State-linked or concessioned organisation | Swiss disability-equality duties can apply | Accessible end-to-end services, not only compliant templates | Exact legal status and contractual obligations |
| Private Swiss business serving the public | Swiss anti-discrimination principles and service-provider duties may be relevant | WCAG 2.2 AA as a risk, usability and quality target | Sector rules, contracts and whether users face unequal access |
| Swiss business offering covered consumer services in the EU | National laws implementing the European Accessibility Act may apply from 28 June 2025 | Map the covered service, market and applicable national implementation | Micro-enterprise exemptions, scope, disproportionate burden and country law |
| Supplier bidding for public or enterprise work | Procurement or client accessibility clauses | Evidence-based conformance and remediation process | Required standard, reporting format and acceptance testing |
Choose the right starting scope
Accessibility scope finder
Select the description closest to your organisation. This gives a planning direction, not a legal conclusion.
The non-commodity view: audit the path, not the pixels
Many accessibility reports are inventories of isolated defects: six low-contrast labels, twelve missing alternative texts, four unnamed buttons. Those findings matter, but the business risk sits in the sequence. Can someone discover the service, understand the offer, choose an option, correct a form error and receive confirmation without a mouse, perfect vision or unusually high cognitive effort?
A homepage can score well while checkout is impossible. A form can have labels while its error message is never announced. A colour palette can pass contrast checks while keyboard focus disappears behind a sticky cookie banner. The useful unit of accessibility is therefore a completed user journey.
What each testing layer adds
Method note: qualitative layers of assurance, not defect-detection percentages. W3C states that no tool alone can determine conformance.
What WCAG 2.2 AA changes for practical design
WCAG is organised around four principles: content should be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Version 2.2 extends 2.1. For everyday business websites, its additions make several familiar pain points more explicit.
Focus must stay visible
Keyboard focus should not be hidden by sticky headers, cookie notices or floating chat controls. A user needs to see where the next action will occur.
Dragging needs an alternative
If an action depends on dragging, provide a simple pointer alternative. This matters for sliders, ordering controls and visual builders.
Targets need usable size
Small, tightly packed controls create errors for people with limited dexterity and for anyone using a phone while moving.
Authentication cannot become a puzzle
Login should not depend on memorising, transcribing or solving cognitive tests when accessible alternatives can be provided.
Help should remain consistent
When support options repeat across pages, users should find them in a predictable relative order.
Do not ask twice without reason
Information already entered in the same process should be auto-populated or available for selection unless repetition is essential.
These are not decorative refinements. They affect checkout, bookings, application forms and account access—the same journeys that drive conversion. Accessibility should therefore be part of the brief when you choose a web design agency in Zurich, not a plugin installed after launch.
The accessibility checks that expose real blockers
Keyboard-only navigation
Put the mouse aside. Move through navigation, dialogs, forms and checkout using Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Space and arrow keys where appropriate. Focus order should follow meaning, the focus indicator should remain visible, and no component should trap the user. Test the mobile menu and cookie consent as carefully as the main page.
Screen-reader structure
Headings should describe the hierarchy, landmarks should identify major regions, links should make sense in context, and controls need accurate names, roles and states. Adding ARIA to broken native HTML can make matters worse. Prefer a real button over a clickable generic container and a labelled input over a placeholder pretending to be a label.
Zoom, reflow and text spacing
Increase text size and zoom without losing information or actions. Columns should reflow rather than forcing two-dimensional scrolling in ordinary reading. Watch for clipped buttons, fixed-height cards and menus that disappear when text becomes larger or German labels run longer than English ones.
Contrast and information beyond colour
Check text, icons, form boundaries and focus indicators—not only brand headlines. Error, success and selected states must not rely on red, green or blue alone. Pair colour with text, shape, position or an icon whose meaning is also programmatically available.
Forms and error recovery
Every field needs a persistent label and useful instructions. Errors should identify the field, explain the problem and suggest a correction. Move focus sensibly after submission and preserve valid input. For Swiss sites, repeat the test in every active language because translated labels and validation messages can change both meaning and layout.
WordPress, Astra and Spectra: what helps and what does not
Astra, Gutenberg and Spectra can provide a sound starting structure, but no theme or page builder guarantees that finished content conforms. Editors can still break heading order, write ambiguous links, publish inaccessible PDFs, place text over images or create a modal that loses keyboard focus.
| Component | Good implementation | Common failure | How to test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navigation | Semantic menu, logical focus order, clear current state | Hover-only submenu or focus hidden behind header | Keyboard and screen reader |
| Buttons and links | Native element with a specific accessible name | Clickable div or repeated “Learn more” links without context | Accessibility tree and keyboard |
| Forms | Labels, instructions, announced errors and preserved data | Placeholder-only labels and colour-only validation | Submit errors with screen reader and zoom |
| Images | Purposeful alt text or empty alt for decoration | Filename alt text or describing every decorative detail | Read page without images |
| Accordions and modals | State announced, focus managed, Escape behaviour defined | Hidden content receives focus or dialog cannot be closed | Keyboard sequence and screen reader |
| PDF downloads | Tagged, structured and tested document or accessible HTML alternative | Scanned image presented as the only route to information | Document checker plus manual reading order |
Accessibility also needs maintenance. Plugin updates, new campaigns and content edits can reintroduce defects. Include a small accessibility regression check in the same operating rhythm as WordPress maintenance.
What an accessibility audit should cost in Switzerland
Price depends less on page count than on unique templates, components and user journeys. Five brochure pages can be simpler than one authenticated booking flow. The following figures are planning allowances from Clear Design, not a market tariff or fixed quote.
| Engagement | Indicative planning range | Useful output | Not enough for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focused accessibility review | CHF 600–1,500 | Priority blockers on representative pages and one key form | A formal conformance claim |
| Representative manual audit | CHF 2,500–6,000 | Template/component sample, keyboard and assistive-technology findings, prioritised remediation | Every state in a large application |
| Complex service audit | From CHF 6,000 | Multiple journeys, authenticated states, documents, retesting and governance | Remediation unless explicitly included |
| Accessibility in a redesign | Scope within the build | Requirements, design review, component testing and launch acceptance | Ongoing editor discipline and regression checks |
Ask whether the quote includes manual testing, assistive technology, severity definitions, developer-ready evidence, retesting and an accessibility statement. A cheap scan exported as a PDF is not equivalent to an audit. Accessibility affects the wider cost of a website in Switzerland, but planning it during design is usually more efficient than retrofitting every component later.
A practical remediation order
- Remove complete blockers: inaccessible consent, navigation, login, checkout, booking and contact paths.
- Fix shared components: header, footer, buttons, forms, dialogs and cards so one repair improves many pages.
- Repair high-value content: service pages, pricing, application information, policies and essential downloads.
- Retest the journey: confirm that fixes work together with keyboard and assistive technology.
- Document limitations: publish an honest statement and a feedback route where appropriate.
- Prevent regression: add acceptance criteria, editor training and scheduled checks.
This order prevents a familiar failure: polishing hundreds of alternative texts while the main menu still cannot be opened without a mouse. Prioritisation should reflect user harm, task frequency, business impact and reach—not just how quickly a defect can be closed.
Questions to ask an accessibility partner
- Which legal or contractual baseline are you assuming, and which version of WCAG will you test?
- How will you choose representative pages, components and user journeys?
- Which checks are automated, manual and assistive-technology based?
- Will findings include reproduction steps, success criteria, severity and suggested fixes?
- Is remediation included, and who retests it?
- How do you test German, French, Italian and English versions without duplicating meaningless work?
- Can you help create an accessibility statement and feedback process without overstating conformance?
- How will editors and developers prevent the same defects returning?
These questions belong beside the commercial and technical questions in our guide to choosing a web design agency. A confident answer explains scope and evidence. A weak answer promises that a widget will “make the site compliant.”
Frequently asked questions
Is WCAG 2.2 legally required in Switzerland?
Not universally. The Swiss eCH-0059 v3 standard for its public-sector scope references WCAG 2.1 AA. W3C recommends WCAG 2.2 for current work, and it is a sensible forward-looking build target. Your binding requirement can depend on organisation, sector, contract and market.
Does the European Accessibility Act apply to a Swiss company?
It can matter when a Swiss business offers a covered product or consumer service in the EU, such as e-commerce, but application depends on national implementing law, service scope and exemptions. The Act has applied in the EU since 28 June 2025. Obtain advice for the countries and service involved.
Can an accessibility plugin make WordPress compliant?
No plugin can repair every issue in structure, content, interaction, documents and third-party services. Some tools add useful preferences or identify defects; they do not replace accessible components, manual testing or organisational responsibility.
Is an automated score enough?
No. W3C states that no tool alone can determine whether a site meets accessibility standards. Automated checks are valuable for repeatable signals such as some contrast, naming and code issues, but human evaluation is required for meaning and task completion.
Should every image have alt text?
Every image needs an appropriate text-alternative decision. Informative images need useful alternative text; linked or functional images need the action or purpose; decorative images normally need empty alt text so they are ignored. More description is not automatically better.
Sources and methodology
Legal and standards claims were checked on 4 July 2026 against the Swiss eCH-0059 Accessibility Standard v3, the Federal Administration’s accessibility guidance, the W3C WCAG 2.2 Recommendation and evaluation guidance, plus official EU material on the European Accessibility Act. The cost ranges are Clear Design planning allowances based on scope, not official or statutory prices.
Find the blocker before your customer has to report it
Clear Design can review a representative journey, separate automated warnings from real barriers, and give your designer or developer a prioritised remediation plan. You will know what blocks access now, what belongs in the next release and which compliance questions need specialist legal advice.
Bring your current website, redesign brief or procurement requirements. We will scope the review before recommending a full audit.
