Accessibility Testing

Ensuring your content is accessible involves using BOTH automated tools and manual testing. No automated tool alone can determine if content meets all accessibility standards. Human judgment is necessary to accurately evaluate the accessibility of digital content, web pages, and web applications.

How to Test for Digital Accessibility

Automated Testing

Automated tools evaluate a website’s code and content, flag accessibility issues, and often provide guidance on how to fix any issues. These tools help catch errors that might not be obvious.

Manual Testing

Manual testing involves human judgment to identify issues that automated tools might miss. Here are the three primary types of manual testing:

  1. Content review: Read through your content with accessibility best practices in mind.
  2. Keyboard testing: Check that all interactive elements can be operated with a keyboard.
  3. Screen reader review: Test with a screen reader to uncover issues with reading order and interactive elements.

Testing Documents

Ensure that PDFs, Word, and any downloadable document meet accessibility guidelines.

  1. Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint: Microsoft Accessibility Checker
  2. PDFs: Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Accessibility Checker

Testing Web Pages

Automated testing tools for testing web page content:

  1. Axe DevTools:
    • A free, industry-standard browser extension that detects web accessibility issues with high accuracy. It’s user-friendly and doesn’t require advanced accessibility knowledge. To install, contact the ITS Help Desk.
  2. WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool:
    • Copy the URL of the page you want to test and paste it into the tool for an immediate accessibility report. This tool is free and available to all users.
  3. Editoria11y Accessibility Checker: 
    • When logged in to Drupal, web editors can see icons at the bottom of pages to identify accessibility issues. This is currently enabled on the County Website.
  4. CKEditor Accessibility Checker: 
    • Scans content created in Drupal's CKEditor for accessibility issues before publishing. This feature is currently enabled for web editors. Contact the Web Content Analyst for details.
  5. DubBot:
    • An automated scanning tool to help web editors identify and resolve web accessibility issues. This is available to web editors. Contact the Web Content Analyst for details.

Free Screen Readers

PC: Narrator

Narrator is the built-in screen reader that comes with Windows.

MAC & iPhone: VoiceOver

VoiceOver is the built-in screen reader that comes with iOS devices.

Desktop Screen Readers Survival Guide:

Keyboard Testing

Many users with disabilities may not be able to use a mouse. Hence, testing with a keyboard is an essential part of any accessibility evaluation. Use the Tab key in most browsers to check that all functions receive visible focus and respond to common key presses (Enter, Space). To learn additional keyboard commands, see WebAIM's Keyboard Testing.

Color Contrast Checkers

WebAIM Contrast Checker: This web-based tool allows you to input foreground and background colors directly or select colors using an eyedropper to check their contrast ratio. It also indicates whether the contrast passes or fails.

Adobe Color Contrast Checker: This web-based tool allows you to input or select colors to evaluate their contrast ratio, ensuring accessibility compliance with WCAG guidelines.

Color Contrast Analyzer: This downloadable application, available for Windows and macOS, is designed to check color contrast for various uses, including websites, app development, graphics, PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, and InDesign files. It can also analyze existing designs and more. Request installation from ITS.

Additional Resources

  1. Testing for Web Accessibility, WebAIM
  2. Selecting Evaluation Tools, WebAIM