Document Language
Every page needs lang="xx" on the <html> element. Screen readers use this to switch pronunciation. Missing on 16% of homepages. One-line fix with enormous impact.
Tell the browser what language the page is in, so screen readers pronounce the words correctly. A tiny code change with a big effect.
WCAG 3.1.1 (Level A) requires the default human language of the page to be programmatically determinable. WCAG 3.1.2 (Level AA) requires the language of each passage or phrase to be determinable when it differs from the page language.
This is one of the simplest and highest-impact accessibility fixes. If you fix nothing else, add lang to your element.
Why this matters
Missing on 16% of homepages — a one-line fix with enormous impact. Screen readers use the lang attribute to switch pronunciation engines. Without it, a French screen reader might try to read English text with French pronunciation, making it incomprehensible.
How to detect
View page source and check the opening <html> tag. Is there a lang attribute? Is it correct? For multi-language pages, check that lang is set on elements in other languages.
How to fix
<!-- Set the primary language --> <html lang="en"> <!-- Mark sections in other languages --> <p>The French word <span lang="fr">bonjour</span> means hello.</p> <!-- Common language codes --> <!-- en, nl, de, fr, es, pt, it, ja, zh, ar, ko -->