Web accessibility in Software Testing
Different studies say that 15% of the worldwide population experience some form of disability. Disability cannot be a reason or criteria for lack of access to development programming and the realization of human rights.
What are the top 7 disabilities:
- vision impairment
- impaired or hard of hearing
- mental health conditions
- intellectual disability
- acquired brain injury
- autism spectrum disorder
- physical disability
For every disability category, there’s a software program or an online service tool that can help to discover and meet accessibility requirements.
We’ve seen above how important accessibility is, we know that there are some Software Web APIs that can help but what are the laws and standards to meet?
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the most common reference for Intl Web Standards. They describe how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Some countries already have legal requirements for Government, Universities and other institutional websites. An example is the Swiss Federal Law on the Elimination of Inequalities for Persons with Disabilities. In the USA, the Department of Justice and ADA Attorneys are often sending fines due to non-compliance with Laws.
When it comes to testing a11y, it is highly recommended to set up your guidelines and requirements before you start. In the next lines, I am going to write about which techniques to use, which roles and responsibilities a team should have or which are the common software issues.
Which a11y testing types do you use?
There are different testing types, you have first to evaluate before choosing the tools you need:
Here are some resources for web accessibility.
One of the most important hints I got some years ago is: put yourself in your customer’s shoes. For instance, wear simulated low-vision glasses and to use your website: you will realize how difficult it is to navigate and to read it.
From where can I start?
If you never integrated a11y into the company you work for, it could be helpful to know the people involved and their responsibilities:
- Executives: support the program
- Product and Project managers: run the program
- Content authors and contributors: provide accessible content
- Design (visual, interaction, user experience): provide accessible interaction and visual design
- Development: provide code to support accessibility
- Quality Assurance: provide accessibility testing
- Legal: provide legal support (and leverage)
- Human Resources: hiring and training
All these roles will seat together to first run an assessment of the current accessibility status. The results will be analyzed and issues to be fixed will be addressed by a dedicated Project.
Wave is a free tool that can be used to run this assessment. My advice is any way that assessment should be done by a QA Team with good knowledge, appropriate skills and dedicated tools. Involving users with disabilities also has many benefits. The same QA Team can then be responsible for the Testing tasks in all the next projects.
What kind of issues are the most common to find in web accessibility?
Based on my experience, these are the most common accessibility issues affecting websites:
- Non-text content missing text alternative.
- PDF, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint files, OpenOffice.org, and Adobe Flash not fully accessible
- The contrast ratio between text and background is low
- Labels for forms and fields wrongly positioned
- Form submissions have no confirmation
- ARIA headings ignored when using screen readers
As a conclusion, a11y Web Testing should always be taken into consideration given the impact on people and their rights to access websites.
Therefore the QA Manager should probably set up a Team with the relevant knowledge, creating the Guidelines and defining the Test Strategy. The QA Engineers can then execute the plan according to the requirements.
Reach out to us in case you want some advice on the implementation process for web accessibility testing