Introduction
In our context, the goal of accessibility testing is to identify barriers for users with disabilities when they use websites or apps. This includes individuals with permanent disabilities (e.g., blindness or motor impairments), temporary limitations (e.g., a broken arm), and situational challenges (e.g., bright sunlight affecting screen visibility). (1).
Customers who run accessibility tests at Test IO receive reports highlighting accessibility issues in their products. These reports help them improve their websites and apps to meet international accessibility standards and enhance user experience for all.
Check out the related articles at the bottom of the article to learn more about web accessibility.
Understanding the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a set of rules to make digital content more accessible. These guidelines are divided into three levels: (2):
Level A (Basic): The most essential requirements to make content accessible (e.g., adding text alternatives for images).
Level AA (Intermediate): Enhances accessibility for a broader audience (e.g., ensuring sufficient color contrast for readability).
Level AAA (Advanced): Provides the highest level of accessibility (e.g., sign language translations for multimedia content).
The description of your accessibility test or a message from the TL in the test chat will reveal what levels are requested by the customer: A, A+AA, or A+AA+AAA.
Only checkpoints from requested levels should be tested by you; Checkpoints from levels above the requested level(s) are out of scope.
Please get familiar with the official WCAG 2.2 checkpoints from W3C and use them as a reference while testing for accessibility issues.
If you are just getting started with accessibility testing, you might feel that even our own checkpoint list is too complex in the beginning. In this case, we recommend reviewing Easy Checks provided by W3C, which are based on the official WCAG checkpoints.
Note that these easy checks do not cover all checkpoints.
Testing Approach
If you are new to accessibility testing, make sure to install and configure corresponding accessibility tools and to get familiar with them before starting to test.
Use these tools to apply our recommended testing workflow:
Navigating the whole page using only a keyboard (Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Spacebar, etc.).
Navigate the whole page using a screen reader to check if content is read correctly.
Navigate through the whole page using screen reader shortcut keys for heading, landmark, lists, and so on.
Check the color contrast via contrast checker tools and verify if text is readable against its background .
Scan the website's HTML code with automated tools to catch common issues like missing alt text, form label errors, and low contrast text. These tools help identify problems quickly when you are new to the matter, but manual testing is still necessary to ensure a complete review.
References:
WCAG 2.2 checkpoints by W3C – reference to requirements and techniques
Easy Checks by W3C