What Next.js audits actually need to catch

Most accessibility tooling assumes a fully-rendered SPA. Next.js mixes Server Components, Client Components, streaming, and metadata — and the failure modes differ in each.

app/layout.tsx setting lang="en" and a single <main> landmark (WCAG 3.1.1, 1.3.1).
Heading hierarchy across nested layouts and parallel routes (WCAG 1.3.1, 2.4.6).
<Image> components missing required alt text (WCAG 1.1.1).
<Link>components with non-descriptive text like "click here" (WCAG 2.4.4).
Generated generateMetadata outputs that drop the page title or set duplicates across routes (WCAG 2.4.2).
Client Components with click handlers on <div> and <span> elements (WCAG 4.1.2, 2.1.1).

Why it matters

Next.js powers a growing share of enterprise and federal web properties — and federal procurement contracts increasingly cite Section 508 conformance as an acceptance criterion. Catching violations at the component layer is cheaper than a remediation contract after launch, and far cheaper than a Department of Justice settlement.

Broken vs. fixed

Broken

// app/products/page.tsx
export default function Products() {
  return (
    <main>
      <h3>Latest</h3>
      <h1>Products</h1>
      <a onClick={track}>
        <img src="/hero.png" />
      </a>
    </main>
  )
}

Fixed ✓

// app/products/page.tsx
import Image from 'next/image'

export default function Products() {
  return (
    <main>
      <h1>Products</h1>
      <h2>Latest</h2>
      <a href="/products/featured" onClick={track}>
        <Image src="/hero.png" alt="Featured product showcase" width={1200} height={600} />
      </a>
    </main>
  )
}

How fixa11y solves it

The CLI walks your app/ and src/ trees, recognizes Next.js-specific patterns (the next/image and next/link components, server/client boundaries, route groups, parallel routes), and emits fixes that respect those conventions. The browser fixer handles single components when you want a one-off review.

Each finding cites the WCAG criterion and includes the file:line:column for fast triage in CI.

Next.js Accessibility Audit

What Next.js audits actually need to catch

Why it matters

Broken vs. fixed

How fixa11y solves it

Fix this in seconds with fixa11y