Updated 2/13/2024
Accessibility is a key component of website and digital product development. However, there are many websites and digital assets today that do not meet recommended accessibility standards. To make your digital content accessible, you first need to understand how accessible your organization’s digital content is. This is where accessibility testing comes in.
About Accessibility Testing
Accessibility testing is the process of evaluating a product or service to ensure that it can be used by individuals with disabilities. In a digital setting, it helps identify and address any barriers or limitations that may prevent people with visual, auditory, cognitive, and motor impairments from interacting with a website, software, app, or kiosk effectively. An interaction can include almost anything: reading content, ordering food, purchasing a ticket, accessing online banking, or using a self-service kiosk at the grocery store, to name a few.
Companies may use a wide range of tools and techniques, such as accessibility checkers and scans. Organizations can also employ user accessibility testing for assistive technologies, such as screen readers and keyboard-only navigation, to simulate the experience of users with disabilities.
Many organizations today test for accessibility compliance using well-accepted accessibility guidelines and standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The WCAG standards, for example, focus on making web content more perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for individuals with disabilities. These guidelines help developers, designers, and writers create websites and digital content that can be accessed and used by a broad range of users, regardless of their abilities.
You may also see people refer to accessibility as “a11y.” This shorthand notation represents the word accessibility (the 11 refers to the number of letters between the first and last letters of “accessibility”), typically in online forums and on social media. A11y testing is used in a wide range of cases, from referring to the audit process to the name of a specific scoring matrix. The term a11y has also been used to refer to the movement to expand accessibility technology.
Why Is Accessibility Important?
Regardless of the type of company, businesses today need a website and digital tools to keep it running. When people with disabilities cannot effectively use your website, payment system, or mobile app, it limits their access to the information and products you offer and in turn, the choices they have within the marketplace.
A lack of accessibility also puts your company at a disadvantage. According to the CDC, one in four Americans have some form of disability. That’s a significant number of people to exclude from your business. Here are some other reasons why accessibility is important:
- Inclusivity: Web accessibility promotes inclusivity by eliminating barriers and enabling everyone to participate fully in the digital world.
- User Experience: Accessibility improvements often enhance the user experience for all users, not just those with disabilities. Designing for accessibility often means creating a more intuitive and user-friendly interface, improving navigation, and optimizing content structure.
- Expanded Audience: When an e-commerce site or app is not accessible to people with disabilities, those are customers lost. By making a website accessible, businesses can reach a larger audience as well as increase engagement and customer loyalty.
- Legal Compliance: Many countries, including the United States, have laws and regulations in place that require websites to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. Non-compliance can result in legal consequences, including lawsuits and financial penalties.
Examples of Accessibility Laws and Regulations
In the United States, there are relevant laws and regulations at both the state and federal levels which include:
- ADA: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. In terms of web accessibility, the ADA requires that websites and digital content be made accessible to individuals with disabilities. The ADA does not specifically outline technical requirements for web accessibility but refers to standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as a guide for compliance.
- Section 508: This provision of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 mandates federal agencies make their electronic and information technology accessible to individuals with disabilities. Section 508 provides specific technical standards for web accessibility, which are based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA.
- Section 504: Another provision of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 forbids organizations and employers from excluding or denying individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to receive program benefits and services. It applies to any employers or organizations that receive financial assistance from any Federal department or agency, including many healthcare organizations. Recent updates to the rule would advance the goals of the act to include medical equipment and websites.
- Section 752: Part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, Section 752 seeks to increase accountability and transparency for digital accessibility programs. It requires agencies to begin reporting on the accessibility of their information and communications technology (ICT) for people of all abilities.
- Unruh: This California civil rights law requires websites to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. It applies to all websites that sell or promote products or services to people in the state of California, regardless of whether they have a physical location or operate solely online.
- HB21-1110: a reinterpretation of existing Colorado laws, HB21-1110 will require every part of the Colorado government to comply with accessibility standards established by the Governor’s Office of Information Technology by July 1, 2024.
Other countries also have accessibility regulations that government agencies and private businesses must follow, including:
- EAA: The European Union’s European Accessibility Act (EAA) aims to improve accessibility for people with disabilities across a range of goods and services and seeks to harmonize accessibility requirements by removing barriers created by differing regulations throughout the EU. In relation to web accessibility, the EAA establishes binding accessibility targets that must be met by public sector agencies, as well as private organizations offering essential goods and services, such as e-commerce websites.
- Stanca Law: The Italian web accessibility law sets forth obligations and guidelines for adapting websites and digital tools for accessibility for public administration, government agencies, and private sector organizations
- RGAA: The French Disability Act (RGAA) is a technical reference for implementing web accessibility. It is based on the WCAG and provides specific guidelines and technical requirements for web accessibility compliance in France.
- ACA and AODA: The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) created the Accessible Canada Regulations (ACR), centered on a cycle of accessibility planning, execution, feedback, and reporting with the ultimate goal of achieving a barrier-free Canada by 2040. The AODA refers to a wide-ranging accessibility law passed in Ontario in 2005. Any organization with more than 20 employees must regularly file an accessibility report detailing how it is following the standards laid out by the government, with penalties for failing to follow the standards.
- DDA: Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act requires equal access to online services and information for people with disabilities. Passed in 1992, the law prohibits discrimination due to disability in many areas of public life, including employment, education, accessing services, and securing housing. It has been interpreted to include digital channels such as websites.
Web Accessibility Testing: Manual vs. Automated
Accessibility testing will help your company understand its website accessibility status. With this data, you can figure out the next steps towards making it more accessible to all users.
There are two approaches to website accessibility testing: manual and automated.
Automated accessibility testing uses rules-based software to scan pages within your website or coding within an application to look for potential accessibility issues. These automated accessibility testing tools are cost-effective and great for initial testing and continued maintenance, but it does not provide the full picture of your accessibility status, such as whether the alt text for an image is well-written and includes context.
Manual testing provides an expert review of a sample of pages on the site to flag potential accessibility issues throughout. This includes user testing, which puts a website or app in the hands of people with disabilities to test it using their preferred adaptive technology. The challenge of manual accessibility testing is that it is time-consuming, costly, and issues can be missed due to human error. It is also not scalable for long-term maintenance of a site’s accessibility.
The preferred method is to use a combination of the two approaches. Use automated tools to scan and monitor the site, while using manual testing during the initial audit and before any major changes or updates are done.
Three Web Accessibility Testing Tips
Tip #1: Format Your HTML Correctly
First in your arsenal of accessibility testing tricks should be to check that your HTML correctly includes H1, H2 tags, and even H3 and H4. These tags format different-sized headlines, or headers, for sections within a web page.
Sighted users rely on H tags to skim the sight and assess quickly what it’s about. Users with low vision or who are blind and use a screen reader will be able to skim the header and subheaders and skip right to the content they find most valuable.
Tip #2: Check Your Color Contrast
Certain color combinations may render both colors indistinguishable from one another for people with disabilities like color blindness and low vision. Using color accessibility testing tools can help identify color contrast issues. For example, TPGi has a free tool, the Colour Contrast Analyser, that helps you choose color combinations that ensure that individuals with low vision and color blindness are able to read your digital content with ease.
Tip #3: Check All Images Have Alt Text
Because screen readers only read what information is provided in text form, it cannot describe images on a web page. Alternative text, also known as “alt text,” is HTML code that describes what an image is portraying. While there are many opinions on how to write optimal alt text, a good rule of thumb is to be as succinct as possible while communicating what a person would understand if they could see it.
TPGi Accessibility Testing Tools
For some businesses, accessibility testing must start with a baseline evaluation of their site, while other companies need to update or maintain websites that have at some point met accessibility standards but do not fully conform to accessibility standards today. Wherever your company is on its accessibility journey today, TPGi has testing tools and accessibility experts to help.
- Accessibility Resource Center (ARC Platform) is a set of tools to help organizations meet accessibility standards and maintain their standing. It includes user flows, APIs, and a knowledge base.
- ARC Toolkit lets you test live pages for WCAG conformance or web pages in development before you commit them to production.
- JAWS Inspect is an automated accessibility testing tool for Microsoft’s JAWS to help you assess whether your site is compatible with the world’s most popular screen reader.
- Our Accessibility Audits and Reviews provide your company with a full view of your accessibility status and remediation recommendations.
- Our Full-Service Accessibility Strategy and Managed Services provide you access to industry-leading experts to support your accessibility goals.
In addition to our fleet of testing tools, our team can also provide training to show your team how to conduct accessibility testing and build websites, apps, and other digital tools that adhere to WCAG standards. If you would like a TPGi accessibility expert to walk you through our testing options, reach out to us today.