Testing for the accessibility of your website does not have to be complicated. With the right accessibility testing strategy, you can find obstacles in your site and remove them. This will help you make your site usable for all patrons, ensure your site is compliant with rules and regulations, and help you avoid accessibility lawsuits. In this blog post, we’ll explain how to test the accessibility of a website in 5 steps:
- Test for links, alt-text and markup
- Test for navigability and operation yourself
- Expert testing for function and value
- User testing for confirmation
- Make a list of changes
How to Test the Accessibility of Your Website
Step 1: Test for Links, Alt-Text and Markup
There are a variety of tools available that can automatically test for a number of different accessibility obstacles like problems with links, alt-text, and HTML markup. When it comes to learning how to test the accessibility of your website, this is a great first step. These accessibility testing tools will show you clear errors in your site that create challenges for people with disabilities. Some of these tools are available for free online, while others are paid programs or subscriptions.
Remember that automatic tools can only take you so far. These tools scan the code and construction of your site to find known accessibility obstacles, but they can’t use, understand and interact with your site as a human would. Programs and tools can help you check for the following issues. Accessible Metrics can test a page of your site or your entire website for all of these features and others.
- Color contrast
- Alt-text
- Dead links and link text
- Tab-index
- Iframes and embedded media
- HTML mark-up
As you use these tools, write down or otherwise record the issues you encounter, so you can develop a strategy for fixing them in the last step. For a comprehensive list of testing tools, check out our guide on the 25 best free accessibility tools.
Step 2: Test for Navigability and Operation Yourself
You don’t have to be a web designer, programmer, or accessibility expert to test whether or not users can navigate and operate your site with some assistive technologies. You can see how your site works on your own by making a few small changes to the way you use your site and your computer. Try the following tests yourself, and once again, record obstacles you find.
- Remove style sheets: Web developer plugins and extensions for Chrome, Firefox and other browsers allow you to turn off styles. This means you’ll see the site content only, similar to how a screenreader would “see” the site. If your site is difficult or impossible to use without stylesheets, it probably isn’t accessible.
- Use keyboard only: A keyboard works with a site similarly to many assistive devices, so navigating your site with a keyboard instead of a mouse will show you whether it is navigable with these tools.
- Remove images: Settings in your browser can stop it from loading images. If you can’t understand or navigate your site without them, visually impaired users won’t be able to either.
- Use screen magnification and high contrast: Many visually impaired users magnify the screen and/or turn on high contrast to use websites. You can do this yourself by zooming in, adjusting settings, or adding your browser’s accessibility extensions.
These manual tests help you understand some of the top 8 most common accessibility issues that affect users with disabilities.
Step 3: Expert Testing for Function and Value
The previous steps will give you basic knowledge as far as how to test your website for accessibility. However, unless you are familiar with assistive technologies, website construction, or both, you might miss accessibility issues with the more detailed or elaborate functions of your site. An expert can manually test your site and look for issues in your site’s unique construction and code.
The following are functions and features a designer or developer with experience in accessibility might look at:
- Forum posting and moderation: If users can post to and moderate forums, an expert can help make sure everyone has equal access.
- Form filling and filing: A number of accessibility issues can arise if forms are not programmed correctly. For a detailed guide on making forms accessible, read our post on accessible forms.
- PDFs and other files: Screenreaders interpret PDFs and other files differently from webpages. An expert can help you make sure these are formatted properly.
- Chatbots and popups: An expert can work with these features and pinpoint specific issues.
- Specific programs: Work with an expert who is experienced with accessibility and the program’s code to test any functions specific to your business or industry.
When working with experts, ensure they’re testing against established standards. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) from the W3C provide the most widely-recognized framework for web accessibility, and government websites should also reference the Section 508 standards.
Step 4: User Testing for Confirmation
How can you test the accessibility of your website without asking real users who use assistive technologies? This is an important step in seeing how your site really works when it is used in a non-traditional way. You will get the most value out of this step if your users can test all parts of your site.
There are several ways to find testers who use assistive technologies. You might work with local organizations or advocacy groups, put out an ad and organize a testing session, or arrange user testing with a private company. The following are common disabilities a user might have which would require assistive devices:
- Visual: This might include blindness, partial blindness, or color blindness.
- Dexterity: Impairment of fine motor skills like tremors, inability to move the fingers, or a loss of coordination.
- Movement: Paralysis or other loss of movement to the hands or arms limits the use of a keyboard and mouse.
Organizations like WebAIM offer excellent resources on conducting effective user testing with people who use assistive technologies. Their expertise can help you design a testing protocol that yields actionable insights.
Step 5: Make a List of Changes
Now that you know how to test the accessibility of a website, it’s time to put your insights into action. You may have already fixed some of the accessibility issues you encountered, and there are most likely others you recorded that you haven’t fixed or aren’t sure how to.
The best way to organize these changes is by cost and benefit. Ideally, start with changes that are easy to implement and benefit a large number of people. For example, adding alt-text to important images and links benefits everyone who uses a screenreader, and you can do this yourself. A more difficult but manageable change might be making your navigation menu operable with a keyboard. A high-cost change might be hiring a programmer or web developer to fix issues with a special function.
Take on these changes piece by piece. When you have a budget and a plan, making your site accessible will become a much more manageable project. Remember as you make changes to design for accessibility, and test continually so you can catch issues before they become problems.
As you work through these improvements, keep in mind the 6 benefits of web accessibility — from improved SEO to reduced legal liability. Understanding the different levels of WCAG compliance can also help you prioritize which standards to target for your organization.
For ongoing guidance and automated testing, consider using professional accessibility tools that align with standards from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).