Page Accessibility Labs

There are many excellent automated accessibility testing tools available. They can be invaluable in testing websites. They can save hours over manual testing alone. And as good as they are they are not enough.

Automated testing tools scan through the code of your website looking for things like properly labeled form fields, images with correct notation, and making sure all the links on a page have unique names. Most automated tool can test for well over 100 different details and they can go through an entire site in minutes. Conducting such a battery of tests manually could take days and would quite likely not be as accurate. I rely on various testing tools as a first step on any complex accessibility testing project but only as the first step.

The reasons there is more to website accessibility than running a site through an accessibility validator are fairly simple.

• Automated testing tools test against the W3C or Section 508 accessibility checkpoints. These are what a couple committees decided are the minimum requirements for handicapped accessible web design. They are sort of like building codes – they represent the minimum for safety but don’t have anything do to with quality, comfort, or usability.
• Several of these checkpoints require manual testing anyway. For instance, the testing tool can see that an ALT attribute is present but cannot judge whether it is helpful or even correctly implemented. If it is used badly it can even make the website less accessible – but only examination by a qualified human would reveal that

• If the site passes automated testing with flying colors it could still be very difficult for someone using a screen reader, for instance, to use. Good design is the basis for success for any website and a positive experience for any user but it is vital for certain populations. No testing tool can judge design that works.

Recognizing that in today’s world it can mean the difference between success or failure, firms can spend tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds on their web presence. The temptation to shave the budget by having it tested by automated means alone is understandable. But proper testing need not cost much more and you’ll be sure of everyone’s access assured.

Web Accessibility is something new to many companies.  It doesn't seem so long ago that companies had to establish a web presence. Then came strategic marketing, advanced information gathering, targeted advertising, online shopping, and who only knows what else. And now web accessibility for the visually impaired? The hearing impaired? Those living with dyslexia, those unused to web technologies… and on and on?

We are used to thinking of the web as primarily visual; a sort of print medium, possibly, with added sound and motion. And this is how many web sites actually are.  We forget web pages are elastic and almost infinitely malleable. There is no reason to limit the presentation of your message to merely print, or audio, or images - they can be combined in ways for the broadest possible coverage. And there isn't even a reason to dictate the way a given user will experience your web site. One may choose to expand they type, another to increase contrast, and another may prefer to have the written word read aloud. That is one of the keys to thinking about web accessibility - designing your web page so that the user can choose how she experiences your companies web presence.

If you don't know if your site is accessible, the first step is to have it tested. You can use to free online testing services such as Cynthia Says  to test individual pages or you can choose to have your entire corporate on-line presence examined by a company like Page Accessibility Labs.