Website accessibility is crucial; it should be prioritized and put at the forefront when designing and developing websites. It ensures that individuals with disabilities can access and interact with web content easily. To achieve this, web accessibility tools and resources can help websites adhere to accessibility guidelines and ensure that everyone can access your web content. It's imperative to ensure that your website is accessible to all, and one of the best ways to guarantee this is by implementing different tools and accessibility testing.
What is Web Accessibility Testing?
Web accessibility testing is the process of evaluating the user experience for users with disabilities on a website. This process ensures that all users can navigate, understand, and interact with a website. It gives businesses the opportunity to improve the accessibility of their websites for users with and without disabilities. When conducting web accessibility, there are four goals to focus on:
- Addressing the needs of people with all types of disabilities.
- Balancing the needs of people with different disabilities.
- Matching these needs to optimal techniques.
- Using clear language to express these needs and techniques.
While this may seem overwhelming, many web accessibility tools and resources can help you make your website accessible. These tools include automated web accessibility checkers, plugins and extensions, and templates designed to meet web accessibility standards.
Considerations When Testing Web Accessibility
When conducting accessibility testing for a website, two key outcomes must be evaluated: universality and usability. Universality covers the elements and aspects of your website that are usable for everyone. Usability speaks to the simplicity and functionality of accessible design elements, emphasizing the idea that the easier your website is to use, the more likely you will capture visitor interest. Aside from these key aspects, you should also focus on mobility, hearing, vision, and cognition.
Mobility
Consider the accessibility of your website for those with mobility challenges. Ensuring that your website has ample keyboard support is imperative to keep your website accessible for people who have mobility challenges and are unable to use a mouse.
Hearing
Does your website have a lot of audio or video content that contains information pertinent to your business? If so, does the content include options for users who are hearing impaired? If your answer is no, then it's important to make these changes so that the necessary information on your website is accessible to everyone who visits.
Vision
In the same vein, does your website support audio descriptions and include context-first text? Features like these make it easy for vision-impaired users who use text-to-voice software to quickly find the information they need.
Neurodivergence and Cognition
For neurodivergent users and those who are cognitively impaired, it's crucial to analyze the complexity of the forms and menus on your website and ensure they're easily identifiable. It's important to keep your forms and menus succinct while at the same time ensuring that all form fields indicate exactly what's required.
Types of Web Accessibility Testing
Conducting accessibility tests can help you immediately improve aspects of your website to be more accessible, but automated testing alone can't help you meet WCAG standards. This is where comprehensive accessibility testing comes in, as it requires a multi-layered approach that can reach every single asset on your website.
Automation Testing
Automation testing quickly identifies quick changes that can be made to improve the accessibility of your website. While this may not be enough to be compliant and help users of all abilities, it's a good start to get you going. However, it's important to note that automation testing lacks human interpretation. Therefore, it can sometimes miss vital accessibility issues.
User Experience Review
A user experience (UX) review is an inspection of large web design elements that test for usability and accessibility. During a UX review, some of the elements that are analyzed include button size, logical page layout, visual structure, and menu functionality. This process is crucial for native apps and is helpful for people with low vision, mobility impairments, neurodivergent needs, cognitive impairments, hearing impairments, and those with specific learning disabilities.
Manual Code Review
This type of testing involves professionals with WCAG technical review knowledge inspecting the coding aspects of your website, including both structure and content. This process ensures that the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript conform to WCAG standards on multiple types of assistive technologies.
User Testing
User testing gives you the opportunity to have real people with real disabilities confirm that your site is usable for them. For example, a person who uses screen readers daily, such as NVDA or JAWS (both are commonly referred to as "assistive technology"), can provide insights into how accessible your website is with the assistive technology tools they use.
Web Accessibility Testing Tools
There are two types of accessibility testing tools that you can use: manual and automated. There are a variety of web accessibility tools available, including text-to-speech software, screen readers, keyboard navigators, captioning systems, and more. These tools help users with different types of disabilities to navigate web pages and interact with web content in a meaningful way. By incorporating these tools into your website design, you can ensure that your website is accessible to every user. Not only does this benefit website users, but it also enhances and improves the website's user experience and boosts the website's SEO ranking, making it essential that the website is inclusive to all.
Manual Accessibility Tools
Manual accessibility tools require you to manually test each web page one at a time, identifying accessibility errors. This makes the process easier for those who aren't experts in accessibility requirements or standards and still be able to provide an excellent experience to all users.
With so many manual accessibility tools that exist, it can be difficult to sift through them all and decide what will work best for you. There are a number of free manual tools that can help you make your website more accessible, including Accessible Name & Description Inspector (ANDI). Siteimprove offers a comprehensive suite of tools that are designed to facilitate digital marketing, enhance web accessibility, and enhance quality assurance. This series of tools prioritize issues based on where the problem is located, conformance level, and difficulty to fix. Siteimprove's free color contrast tool is beneficial to individuals to identify color issues on a website. This tool can scan websites and will flag any elements with color contrast issues that don't meet accessibility guidelines. It uses the WCAG 2.1 standard.
Tota11y is an accessibility visualization toolkit designed to enable any user to understand and find solutions for accessibility violations while at the same time learning best practices. This tool is a single JavaScript file that has a toolbar with several plugins that can give you insight into the changes that can be made to make your website more accessible.
ANDI is a government tool developed and maintained by the Social Security Administration (SSA). It is considered a bookmarklet and is not a type of software that would be installed. Just add it to your browser's bookmarks bar to use.
Automated Accessibility Tools
Automated testing tools scan your entire website and multiple sites if needed for accessibility errors, and some tools will even correct them for you. These sorts of tools are best used on larger websites with hundreds of web pages and large amounts of content.
There is a wide array of automated tools, from free open-source solutions to enterprise.
The free IBM Equal Access Toolkit provides comprehensive guidance and tools for creating accessible web content throughout the development process, from planning to launch. It includes the Accessibility Checker, a browser extension that helps developers identify and fix accessibility issues in real-time, ensuring compliance with the latest accessibility standards like WCAG 2.2. Axe-Scan Accessibility CLI Scan Engine by Deque is an open-source library that integrates with various development tools to automatically detect accessibility issues. It is widely used for both automated and manual accessibility testing, providing detailed reports and recommendations for fixing identified problems. The Axe engine can be integrated into development workflows to continuously monitor and improve web accessibility.
Other systems, such as Siteimprove, ARC Platform, and Deque's axe DevTools, offer additional features for comprehensive accessibility audits and continuous monitoring. Siteimprove provides an extensive suite of tools that include automatic scanning, issue identification, and best practice recommendations to ensure websites meet accessibility standards. Deque's axe DevTools, particularly the paid version, offers in-depth analysis and reporting, helping to maintain compliance with WCAG guidelines and enhance the overall user experience for individuals with disabilities.
By utilizing these tools, web developers can ensure their websites are accessible, improving the user experience for all users and enhancing their site's SEO performance.
Assistive Technology Tools
There are a variety of assistive technology tools that exist to make web content accessible to every user, including those with disabilities. Some of the most commonly used tools are screen readers, magnification, voice dictation, and color contrast, which should consistently be up to par on every page of your website.
Screen Readers
A screen reader is a type of assistive technology that is frequently used by a person with visual impairments or learning disabilities. It is also helpful for those learning a new language and older adults. This tool will typically start at the top of a website or document and read any text, including alternate text for images. All screen readers work differently, with some allowing users to preview the information, like the navigation bar or all the headings on a page and move the user to the desired section of the page.
Screen reader users often navigate through a website or document by using only the keyboard because it provides a precise manner of moving through a site. Screen readers are a tool for testing the accessibility of a website because it confirms the flow of the page and how accessible the website or document is.
There are a variety of screen reader tools that exist, including Microsoft Narrator, which is built into Windows systems and is most widely used in developing countries. NV Access NVDA and VoiceOver are also popular worldwide. NV Access NVDA is a free and open-source portable screen reader for Microsoft Windows that facilitates access to different websites for vision-impaired people. VoiceOver is advanced screen reading technology that is integrated into the Mac OS X operating system and enables users with visual disabilities to control their computer using keyboard commands and gestures.
JAWS (Job Access with Speech) accessibility tool is one of the most popular systems used in orientation and mobility training for individuals new to screen readers and is the most widely used screen reader for corporations. It utilizes text-to-speech, can translate text into braille, and relies heavily on keyboard shortcuts in order for users to control the computer. JAWS allows visually impaired users to navigate a web page, read text, images, browse the internet, and many other features including customization to set reading speeds and allows users to control the amount of punctuation spoken.
Magnification
Magnification is an assistive technology tool designed to help individuals with visual impairments by enlarging text and images on a screen. This tool is particularly beneficial for users who have low vision, allowing them to see content more clearly without straining their eyes. Magnification software can zoom in on specific areas of a web page or document, providing a closer view of text, images, and other elements.
Different magnification tools offer various features, such as adjustable zoom levels, color contrast enhancements, and text smoothing. These features help users customize their viewing experience to meet their specific needs.
Using magnification tools can significantly improve the accessibility of a website, ensuring that users with visual impairments can read and interact with content effectively. These tools also assist in testing the accessibility of a website by verifying that all content remains visible and readable when magnified.
Several magnification tools are available, including ZoomText and Windows Magnifier. ZoomText is a powerful magnification and screen reading software for Windows that offers advanced magnification levels and voice output. Windows Magnifier is a built-in tool in Microsoft Windows that provides basic magnification features, allowing users to zoom in on parts of their screen quickly and easily. Both tools help ensure that web content is accessible to users with low vision.
Voice Dictation
Voice dictation is an assistive technology tool that allows users to control their computer and input text using their voice. This tool is particularly beneficial for individuals with physical disabilities, repetitive strain injuries, or those who find typing challenging. Voice dictation software converts spoken words into text and can execute commands to navigate and interact with web content.
Voice dictation tools offer various features, such as voice commands for editing text, controlling applications, and browsing the web. These features enable users to perform tasks hands-free, improving their efficiency and comfort.
Incorporating voice-activated testing into a website can enhance accessibility, ensuring that users who rely on this technology can easily navigate and interact with content. Voice dictation is also useful for testing website accessibility by verifying that all interactive elements are accessible through voice commands.
Several voice dictation tools are available, including Dragon NaturallySpeaking and built-in dictation features in operating systems like Windows Speech Recognition and Apple's Voice Control. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a comprehensive voice recognition software for Windows that offers advanced voice command capabilities and high accuracy in converting speech to text. Windows Speech Recognition and Apple's Voice Control provide built-in voice dictation features that allow users to control their computers and input text using voice commands. These tools help ensure that web content is accessible to users who rely on voice dictation for navigation and interaction.
Color Contrast Adjustment Tools
Color contrast adjustment tools offer various features, such as increasing contrast, changing color schemes, and applying filters to enhance visibility. These features help users perceive text and images more clearly, reducing eye strain and improving the overall browsing experience.
Several color contrast adjustment tools are available, including browser extensions and built-in accessibility features in operating systems. High Contrast is a popular browser extension for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox that allows users to apply different color schemes to web pages, such as high Contrast and inverted colors. Windows and macOS also offer built-in accessibility settings that enable users to adjust the color contrast and apply color filters system-wide. These tools help ensure that web content is accessible and readable for users with visual impairments by allowing them to customize the color contrast according to their needs.
Google Lighthouse
Google Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool designed to improve the quality of web pages. It provides comprehensive audits for performance, accessibility, progressive web apps, SEO, and more. This tool is particularly beneficial for small business web developers looking to optimize their sites and ensure they meet various standards, including accessibility guidelines.
How Google Lighthouse Impacts SEO
Performance Optimization: Lighthouse measures key performance metrics like First Contentful Paint (FCP), Speed Index, and Time to Interactive (TTI). Improving these metrics can lead to faster load times, which is a ranking factor for SEO.
Accessibility: Lighthouse evaluates the accessibility of web pages, identifying issues that can hinder users with disabilities. Fixing these issues not only improves user experience but can also positively impact SEO as search engines favor accessible sites.
Best Practices: The tool checks for adherence to web best practices, such as using HTTPS, avoiding deprecated APIs, and ensuring proper image sizes. Following these best practices can enhance site security and usability, indirectly boosting SEO.
SEO Audits: Lighthouse includes specific SEO audits that check for basic SEO principles, such as having meta tags, descriptive titles, and proper link text. Addressing these issues helps improve a site's visibility in search engine results.
Quality Assurance and How it Relates to Web Accessibility
When it comes to website accessibility, quality assurance plays a crucial role in ensuring that everyone uses your site. Accessibility testing should be an integral part of your QA process, alongside other essential checks like functionality, performance, and security. We've mentioned several automated accessibility testing tools, such as:
- WAVE
- aXe
- Siteimprove
- Google Lighthouse
Here are some key points to consider:
Accessibility testing should be part of the development workflow from the beginning rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Use a combination of manual and automated testing tools to identify accessibility issues. Automated tools can quickly detect common problems, such as missing alt text or insufficient color contrast, while manual testing allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of the user experience.
Manual testing should involve using your website with assistive technologies like screen readers (e.g., NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver) and keyboard navigation to ensure that all content and functionality are accessible.
Don't skip user testing with people who have different abilities and disabilities. This is a vital step in gathering valuable feedback. User testing will help identify issues that may not be apparent through automated or manual testing alone.
Remember, accessibility is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. As you update and add new content to your website, be sure to perform regular accessibility audits to maintain a high level of usability for all visitors. By prioritizing accessibility in your quality assurance process, you can create a more inclusive online experience and demonstrate your commitment to digital equality.
Work with the Web Accessibility Experts at Americaneagle.com
Everyone, regardless of their physical and mental abilities, should be able to access the internet and gather the information they need. Unfortunately, this isn't the case with many websites that still lack the necessary features to ensure they are accessible. To ensure that your website meets the required web accessibility standards, contact Americaneagle.com. We provide expert web accessibility services and can conduct a complete audit to identify current errors and provide strategies to remedy them.
Contact us today to learn how we can help make your website accessible to all.