Accessibility testing and its importance

When I started my career as a tester, I was very passionate about testing, and I have enjoyed (and I still do) looking for small details and inaccuracies in projects. I was always making sure the product stands by its predetermined requirements, but, with some time, I have realized I am able to cover more things than that.

Some of you might already know what kind of tests need to be done to be sure the project you are working on has some basic functionality covered by executing standard tests. As an example, I would probably point out the testing of interface and the design if everything is in its place. Then performance, security, and functionality of the desired project overall. Interacting with a computer or smartphone typically involves three of the five senses, which are: touch, sight, and hearing. One billion people of the world’s population experience some form of disability that can impact that interaction, and to help to minimize any possible issues while interacting with your project in a different way than the usual one, accessibility testing has become part of the development process for creating high-quality applications and web pages.

Accessibility testing software

Accessibility testing for websites is one of the main elements in platform and application development. The benefits of accessibility testing are enormous.

It helps the company expand its user base by providing visually, hearing, and mobility-impaired people with access to online resources and technology. But accessibility isn’t just about your market share or attracting more users, it’s also about providing equal opportunities for everyone.

Regarding accessibility testing, there are many available online services and software programs that help you determine if web content meets accessibility guidelines.

For example, I have chosen a free software I am personally using which is called “NVDA.” It is a screen reader which enables blind and vision-impaired people to use computers. It reads the text on the screen in a computerized voice, which you can customize to your liking. You can choose if the voice is slow or fast, and you are free to choose from many language accents as well. You can control what is read to you by moving the cursor to the relevant area of text with a mouse or the arrows/tab on your keyboard.

NVDA can also convert the text on your website, or basically anywhere, into braille if the computer user owns a device called a “braille display.” As an example of how a braille display with its own keyboard looks, I have chosen “HIMS QBraille XL” which costs about $3,195.00.

WCAG

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a common definition for accessible content, a benchmark. Web “content” is the information on a webpage, website, or web application, including basic information such as text, images, and sounds. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium, the main international standards organization for the Internet.

WCAG guidelines are categorized into three levels of conformance in order to meet the needs of different groups and different situations: A (lowest), AA (mid-range), and AAA (highest). Conformance at higher levels indicates conformance at lower levels. For example, by conforming to AA, a webpage meets both the A and AA conformance levels. Level A sets a minimum level of accessibility and does not achieve broad accessibility for many situations. For this reason, UC recommends AA conformance for all web-based information.

Websites that do not at least meet WCAG 2.0 A are impossible or exceedingly difficult for people with disabilities to use.

A few examples of “WCAG 2.0 Level A” requirements:

• Non-text content alternatives
• Video captions
• Ability to navigate with a keyboard
• No keyboard traps

The Level A examples above set a minimum level of accessibility. As it is stated above “UC recommends AA conformance for all web-based information”, in addition, that means that the website must be usable and understandable for the majority of people with or without disabilities. The meaning conveyed and the functionality available must be the same.

A few examples of “WCAG 2.0 Level AA” requirements:

• Alt text or a similar solution is used for images that convey meaning
• Color contrast is, in most instances, at least 4.5:1
• Navigation elements are consistent throughout the site
• Form fields have accurate labels
• Headings have a logical order

A few examples of “WCAG 2.0 Level AAA” requirements:

Compliance at this level makes your site accessible to the maximum number of users and makes their experience easy. This means you need to have alternatives for everything that might stand in the way of any form of disability. This conformance would be ideal to make the web experience truly equal for all users but, W3 explains, “it is not recommended that Level AAA conformance be required as a general policy for entire sites because it is not possible to satisfy all Level AAA Success Criteria for some content.”

• Sign language interpretation for audio or video content
• In most instances, color contrast is at least 7:1
• Timing is not an essential part of any activity
• Context-sensitive help is available

More about WCAG at www.w3.org/WAI/

Final Thoughts

As I stated at the beginning, at first when I was starting my career as a tester, I did not have that much knowledge and did not realize how important accessibility testing is. Each finished project might be used by someone with some sort of disability in a slightly different way than we are used to, so it helped me to understand the importance and complexity of different test approaches to each project I am working on.

We are ACTUM Digital and this piece was written by Jan Novák, QA Specialist of Apollo Division. Feel free to get in touch.