Automated Website Accessibility Testing

A graphic illustration shows a person in lab attire using tools to work on a microchip at a lab bench. A microscope hovers over the work area, and a camera-like device points at a circuit board diagram. A stack of papers and a small screen are also on the bench.

At Access By Audit, we believe in a web accessible to everyone. Our mission is to ensure that your digital products and services are not just compliant with the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2), but also truly welcoming and usable for all users, including those with disabilities.

There are 7 main areas that a website can be automatically tested for. They are extremely useful because they can give an indication of the build quality of a website and set the expectations of both Google and an individual who may be undertaking a website accessibility audit.

There are at least 7 different metrics available

The metrics that can be tested automatically are:

Website Accessibility Errors Priority A (known as WCAG A)
Website Accessibility Errors Priority AA (known as WCAG AA)
Website Accessibility Errors Priority AAA (known as WCAG AAA)
Website Accessibility Errors for Screen Readers (known as Section 4)
Website Coding Errors that affect Search Engines
Website Coding Errors (known W3C Standards)
Usability and Navigation Issues (that can be picked up automatically)

There are further pages on this website that go into more detail with each of these metrics.

This is only the starting point

There are a variety of automated tools, both free and commercial, which can highlight some of the accessibility issues with your website. Unfortunately, there are many accessibility issues that cannot be picked up by any such automated process, which is why further work is always required. They can be seen as an extremely useful starting point but account for only around 20% of what can be checked. This is where manual user checking is necessary and this requires a high level of knowledge of both web design and website accessibility.

At the time of writing, UK Government legislation requires that all websites belonging to publicly-funded bodies achieve the AA standard. That is only one of these 7 automated checks. If we were to give each metric an equal value, this single metric only accounts for around 3% of the range of possible accessibility issues. You should not, therefore, consider that all your website is required to do is meet that 3% target. Can you imagine how ludicrous it would be in any other area to be satisfied with not covering any of the 97% of issues that could be wrong with your business?

If you are concerned that your current website Accessibility Statement may be inadequate or you do not currently have one for your website, please get in touch with us for a free 15-minute consultation by following this link.