01Light grey body text
Several templates ship with a grey that fails the 4.5:1 minimum. It looks refined and is unreadable for a lot of people.
Where to fix it: Design, Colors, then darken the text colour in each section theme.
Squarespace accessibility: design choices with consequences
Popular with design-led small businesses
Squarespace templates are visually strong and that is precisely the problem: the design decisions that make them look good are often the ones that fail contrast and focus requirements.
What actually breaks on Squarespace
02Removed focus outlines
Template CSS often strips focus styling because it interferes with the look, leaving keyboard users unable to see where they are.
Where to fix it: Custom CSS, restore a visible :focus-visible outline.
03Gallery images with no descriptions
Portfolio and gallery blocks accept alt text but rarely get it.
Where to fix it: Each image's settings panel has an alt text field.
04Cover pages with text over imagery
Text laid over a photograph almost never holds contrast across the whole image.
Where to fix it: Add an overlay layer, or move the text off the busiest part of the image.
The encouraging part
Squarespace's section themes mean a corrected colour set applies across the whole site rather than block by block.
Find out which of these apply to you
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