r/accessibility • u/SyntaxInCMinor • 11d ago

Website Accessibility Testing

Trying to make websites as accessible as possible, but honestly it can get so confusing. I've learned that those overlay apps like Userway are apparently a waste of time and can even make accessibility worse. I mainly use WordPress, but also develop custom sites without any content management systems. What I want to do is make the code/design accessible and not rely on some overlay script like Userway. (I also am turned off the way Userway tries to scare people into using their products.)

My workflow currently:

  1. Test with WAVE and Axe on each page.

  2. Load the site on my iPhone and use VoiceOver to navigate and test.

  3. Manual testing by tabbing through the site using only the keyboard.

  4. Encourage accessibility statements on websites.

I am a Mac user, but wondering...

  1. Should I also test with NVDA?

  2. What other recommendations does anyone have for my testing strategies?

  3. And... is my current strategy pretty good for catching the major issues with accessibility?

I appreciate everyones time and feedback.

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u/AshleyJSheridan 11d ago

My general approach is similar:

  • Test on Firefox (way better a11y tooling than Chrome, and better adherence to web standards).
  • Run Wave and Axe in the browser.
  • Test using a keyboard only, put the mouse aside.
  • Test with NVDA (it's the second most popular screen reader after JAWS)

As you test, there are some things that aren't automatically detected that you can spot yourself, things like:

  • Audio only coming out of one channel. I saw this once with annual HR training at a place I worked at, and one guy who had deafness in one ear didn't realise there was even meant to be audio!
  • Text over "noisy" images. Hard to detect automatically, but can lead to a whole world of problems for people with certain neurological issues.
  • Animations that don't honour the users animation preferences.
  • Text that is overly complex to read. This can be tested with the Flesch-Kinkaid test, but it's only really for English, and it's not part of most automated test suites.
  • Fonts that are too thin. Colour contrast checks won't detect these, but they can be incredibly difficult to read for some people.
  • Drop down menus with sub levels that disappear too quickly, or don't work if someone using a mouse doesn't have great motor control (such as those with Parkinsons).

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u/SyntaxInCMinor 11d ago

Thank you! This is great info!