Automated Accessibility Testing: How-to Guide & Top Tools

As the internet becomes increasingly integrated into our daily lives, it’s important that websites are accessible to all users, regardless of their disabilities. However, ensuring accessibility can be a challenging and time-consuming task for web developers and testers. That’s where automated accessibility testing comes in. By testing for accessibility, teams can address issues before they become more challenging and costly to fix. In this article, we’ll discuss what automated accessibility testing is, including what it is, its pros and cons, and more.

What is Automated Accessibility Testing?

Automated accessibility testing is a process of using software to test for accessibility issues in websites and web applications. This process ensures your app’s content and services are usable by people with disabilities of various types (vision, hearing, etc.). This type of testing can be used to find and fix issues related to web accessibility, such as missing alt text, improper use of color contrast, and more. Check here – Accessibility Testing

For instance, overcoming the challenges that a person with vision impairment would encounter when attempting to use any app because the person would be unable to view visuals is what accessibility concerns are about. Keep in mind that accessibility testing verifies specific application features to ensure that it is usable by everyone.

While automated accessibility testing is a great tool for finding and fixing accessibility issues, it is important to note that it cannot catch everything. For example, automated testing cannot test for issues related to how well a person can use a website or web application. For this reason, it is also important to manually test websites and web applications to ensure they are accessible to everyone.

Can Accessibility Testing be Automated with Tools?

There is no simple answer to the question of whether web accessibility testing can be automated. While there are some automated tools available, they are not always reliable, and they often require a human touch to be effective.

That said, there are some ways to automate web accessibility testing to some extent. For example, you can use a tool to scan your site for potential accessibility issues and then have a human test those issues to confirm whether they are actually problems. You can also use a tool to generate a report of accessibility issues, which can then be reviewed manually.

Ultimately, the decision of whether to automate web accessibility testing will come down to a cost-benefit analysis. Automated tools can save time and money, but they are not always 100% accurate. So the combination of both automated and manual testing is ultimately the most effective method for accessibility testing.

Get here – the list of Web Accessibility Testing Tools

Why Automated Accessibility Testing is Important?

More people are now using digital tools due to the expanding significance of digital technology and applications. However, 70% of websites worldwide are not user-friendly for those with disabilities. Global governments are currently working to make web content accessible to people with impairments as part of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

Government regulations also mandate that software products be usable by people with impairments. So, as an organization, you should consider these users’ needs as well as those of older adults, children, left-handed users, anti-English speakers, and many others.

In addition, inaccessible websites cause significant reputational damage to the brand, which is why it’s crucial to routinely check your site for accessibility blockers using automated accessibility testing tools.

Related Resources >> How Big is the Global Accessibility Testing Market and How Fast is it Growing?

Pros and Cons of Automated Accessibility Tests

The following are some of the pros and cons of automating your accessibility tests,

Pros	Cons
Easy and quick to repeat tests at different stages of the development cycle	Automation tools will not catch all the accessibility errors in your application
Very few steps to run and get quick results	Might report false positives
A little accessibility knowledge is required to perform accessibility testing and understand the results	Various tools might be required for different product types

How to Achieve Automated Accessibility Testing?

We all know that accessibility is essential. We also know that testing for accessibility can be time-consuming and tedious. But what if there was a way to automate accessibility testing?

There are many accessibility testing tools available that can help speed up the testing process. By using one of these tools, you can quickly check for common accessibility issues on your website or app. This can save you a lot of time and help ensure that your site or app is accessible to everyone.

There are a few things to keep in mind when automating accessibility testing.

Make Accessibility a Focus Earlier — During Design

As designers are often tasked with creating products that are both unique and functional. But what about products that are accessible to everyone?

Designing with accessibility in mind is crucial to ensure that your products/platform can be used by everyone, regardless of ability. And while it’s important to consider accessibility at all stages of the agile process, it’s imperative to make it a focus earlier on.

Here are a few tips on how to make accessibility a focus earlier in the design process:

• Educate yourself on accessibility standards and guidelines.
• Incorporate accessibility into your design process from the beginning.
• Make sure your designs are tested for accessibility before launch.
• Continuously monitor your designs for accessibility issues.

By following these tips, you can incorporate accessibility from the beginning.

Leverage Accessibility Testing Tools

How do you choose the right tools when you’re just getting started in the accessibility world?

It is crucial to group potential accessibility testing tools into the following three categories before you start:

• Tools that require human interaction – Accessibility testing still needs humanitarian aid even if more automated methods are available. This ensures that the experience we evaluate closely resembles what our users will have. Some of these will include tools like VoiceOver, JAWS, etc.
• Tools for semi-automated accessibility testing that are browser add-ons – You may quickly identify any accessibility problems with your websites using browser extensions. The majority of browser extensions come with limited functionality that can be unlocked by buying the paid version. A few of these tools include Axe DevTools, WAVE, etc.
• Fully Automated accessibility testing tools – Utilizing automation is essential to shifting accessibility testing as early as possible so that you can concentrate on the places where it is most necessary. One such tool that’s fully automated is Axe CLI.

Create Automated Regression Tests For Accessibility

As a web developer/owner, it’s important to ensure that the site is accessible to everyone. One way to do this is to create automated regression tests that check for accessibility issues.

There are a few different ways to do this, but one tool you can use is the axe-core library. This library provides a set of rules that can be used to automatically test for accessibility issues.

To use the axe-core library, you first need to install it. You can do this by using the following command:

npm install axe-core

After installing axe-core, include the JavaScript file in each of your iframes in your fixtures or test systems to test your site for accessibility issues.

axe
.run()
.then(results => {
if (results.violations.length) {
throw new Error('Accessibility issues found');
}
})
.catch(err => {
console.error('Something bad happened:', err.message);
});

It is possible to create automated accessibility regression testing using the method mentioned above. Additionally, you can completely get rid of most manual testing during the development phase.

Use the Right Test Automation Platform

Traditionally, accessibility testing has been done manually. However, with the rise of test automation, it is now possible to do automated accessibility testing. This can save a lot of time and effort.

There are a number of different tools and platforms available for automated accessibility testing. However, not all of them are equal and have apt features.

How to Choose an Automated Accessibility Testing Tool?

The best place to start when trying to increase the accessibility of your website is with automated accessibility testing using an automation tool.

Although there are numerous free tools and checkers that can assist you with this work, they typically just identify the most fundamental accessibility issues without offering any justifications or suggestions for addressing them.

Here’re some prominent features you should look for in automation tools while choosing one for your project:

• Select accessibility concerns on websites by comparing the code and content to WCAG criteria.
• Use a single platform to test both web and mobile applications. Read here- Mobile Accessibility Testing
• Integrates quickly and seamlessly with all popular content management systems to sync accessibility tool results.
• Keep track of your WCAG conformance progress and a list of fixed issues.
• Cut down on manual testing time with increased automation abilities.
• Align the development and current test cycles with your accessibility tests.

Conclusion

Automated accessibility testing has become an essential aspect of web development. With the growing demand for inclusive and accessible websites, it’s crucial to ensure that everyone can access and interact with your site regardless of their abilities.

With the right automation tools and techniques, it’s possible to test for accessibility issues automatically, saving time, effort, and cost while ensuring compliance with accessibility guidelines.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some automated tools that you can use for accessibility testing?

The best accessibility testing tools are

• Selenium WebDriver
• WAVE
• Axe
• Tenon

Does Selenium support accessibility testing?

Yes, Selenium supports accessibility testing. You can use Selenium to test for compliance with WCAG and other accessibility standards. Selenium can also be used to automate accessibility testing by opening up web pages and running checks on the code to see if it meets the required criteria.

What are the examples of accessibility testing?

Accessibility testing examples include checking keyboard accessibility, style disablement, UI structural elements, checking captions, content scaling, checking image alt text, and text sizing.

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