OBJECTIVES OF WEB ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT
The audit is based on a set of carefully selected pages that represent the type of content, technologies, and interactions found across the whole site. The objectives of the accessibility audit of your website are to:
- Identify areas that do not comply with the WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility guidelines.
- Provide guidance on how to fix the issues across the entire site.
- Minimize repetition of the same accessibility issues maximizing coverage and value.
WHAT IS A CONSIDERED A WEB PAGE?
A “page” is a specific view that is based on user data, selections, and interactions. For instance, selecting an item from a dropdown menu could dynamically change content on the page. The views before the selection and after the selection count as different pages. When selecting a page that has dynamic content, select a page view that has the broadest types of content and features. Other types of pages include popup screens, modal windows, and PDF or other documents.
HOW TO SELECT A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE
A representative sample of pages includes all the different types of content, functions and processes that can be done on the website.
When selecting pages, please consider the following:
- What templates and types of layout are used within the site? Each template should be represented in the selected sample.
- What are the key functions that can be done on the site? All steps within a process should be reviewed.
- What are the most frequently accessed pages? Review your analytics to find out.
- Are the technologies used represented? This could include AJAX, JavaScript, video players, Flash, etc.
- Is the content representative? Consider tables, structured content (content with headings and/or sections), forms, images, different user interface controls such as tab interfaces and expanding menus, frames/iframes, multimedia (audio or video), and content that moves or changes with time or by user action.
- Are the different types of interactions included, such as dynamically added content, error checking, etc.?
- Do the selected views represent all of the features for the page?
HOW MANY PAGES SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE WEBSITE AUDIT?
The number of pages varies depending on the purpose and type. Typically an audit includes 10-15 pages for small to mid-sized websites. Larger sites with many different templates, functions, and processes generally require more pages, usually 25-50 pages.
If your goal is achieving accessibility conformance, we will start by reviewing a representative sample of pages, and then, after the issues have been fixed, we will review this set of pages and a random sample set to ensure that there is a reasonable level of confidence that the site conforms to the accessibility standards and guidelines.
If you don’t have the time or resources available to conduct your website accessibility audit, learn how TPGi’s accessibility experts can help by scheduling a meeting today!