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This guide provides clear steps to help you test your digital content for accessibility. Accessibility testing ensures that websites, software, and documents work for everyone, including people with disabilities.
Rice University Policy 851: All digital information must conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. Testing for conformance to the standard must occur before a tool is procured or deployed, and prior to any website or digital document going live.
The Testing Strategy: A Blended Approach
To ensure a fully inclusive experience, you must use a blended testing strategy. This combines two essential types of testing:
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Technical Testing: Verifies that the code meets technical standards (WCAG). This is can be done with automated and other tools.
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Functional Testing: Verifies that the actual user experience is usable. This is done by humans, often using assistive technology (like screen readers).
Key Takeaway: Automated tools are a great start, but they only catch about 30% of WCAG errors. You cannot rely on automation alone; manual review is required.
Step 1: Automated Testing Tools
Start here to catch technical issues like missing alternative text from images and code errors.
Rice-Licensed Tool for Drupal
Free Browser Extensions & Tools
If you do not have Drupal sites in the Level Access platform, use these free extensions and tools to check digital content.
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WAVE (by WebAIM): Visualizes errors directly on the page and is very user and beginner friendly. Available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Use the Web Accessibility Evaluation Guide in conjuction with WAVE.
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Accessibility Insights for Web (by Microsoft): Extension for Chrome and Microsoft Edge that helps developers find and fix issues using automated checks, keyboard access and step by step manual test instructions.
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ANDI (Accessible Name & Description Inspector): A bookmarklet that automatically detects issues, shows what a screen reader should say for interactive elements, and gives practical suggestions for improvement.
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Web Developer (by Chris Pederick): A toolbar that allows you to view document outlines and heading structures quickly while you are developing code.
Document Testing Tools
Step 2: Manual Review (The Human Check)
After running automated tools, you must manually review the content quality and experience to ensure usability & conformance to WCAG standards. Use this checklist to review your digital content.
Content text & Readability
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Language: Is the content clear and free of jargon? Are acronyms spelled out on first use?
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Headings: Is there only one <h1> per page? is the heading structure logical (e.g., <h2> followed by <h3>, not skipping to <h4>)?
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Link Text: Are links descriptive? Avoid "click here" or "read more." Users should know where a link goes just by reading the link text.
Visual Checks (Zoom Test)
Using your browser, zoom the page to 200% (Ctrl + / Command +).
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Layout: Does content remain visible without horizontal scrolling and is still in an order that makes sense?
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Navigation: Does the menu switch to a mobile/hamburger style that can be opened and closed?
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Functionality: Do all buttons, forms and menus still function?
Images & Color
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Alt Text: Ensure alternative "alt" text conveys the content and function for all non-decorative images. It should be succint, accurate and useful.
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Images of text / text embedded on images: Confirm the the text is represented either in the body text or in the alt text. Check this by trying to highlight text with your cursor.
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Contrast: Is there enough contrast between text and background (ratio of at least 4.5:1)? Use a Color Contrast tool like Colour Contrast Analyser by The Paciello Group, a separate application that can select colors using an eyedropper tool and show acceptable contrast ratios.
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Color Meaning: Ensure color is not the only way you convey information (e.g., "click the red button").
Forms
- Labels: Make sure form controls have descriptive labels that describes the function of a form control (e.g. text area, check box) and generally appears adjacent.
- If the label is not visable, check for a hidden <label>, aria-label, or title attribute.
Tables
- Confirm that tables are only used for tabular data, not for layout on a page.
- If data tables are present, ensure table caption and row and / or column headers are present.
Media
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Captions: Do videos have accurate, human-edited captions? (Auto-generated captions are usually insufficient).
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Transcripts: Is a descriptive transcript available for audio/video content?
Step 3: Functional Testing
Finally, verify that the page works without a mouse and by using a screen reader.
Keyboard Testing
Set your mouse aside. Can you navigate the entire page using only the Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Spacebar, Arrow and ESC keys?
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Confirm you can navigate and reach every link, form, and button.
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Is there a "skip to main content" link that is the first focusable item on the page, enabling you to bypass navigation if wanted?
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Is the order logical and intutive for the user?
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Can you navigate and close dialog/menus and pop-ups?
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Are there any keyboard traps that you can't get out of?
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Is anything mouse-only?
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Confirm that every focusable element has a keyboard focus indicator/outline with at least 3:1 contrast.
Interested in seeing a video walk through of keyboard testing? Watch this short video How to keyboard accessibility test from Pope Tech.
Screen Reader Testing
Testing with a screen reader helps you understand the reading order and interactive experience, identifying any issues or failures in the code of your digital content.
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NVDA (Windows): Free, open-source screen reader.
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VoiceOver (Mac/iPhone): Built into Apple devices.
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TalkBack (Android): Built into Android devices.
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Support & Resources
Need help? The Rice Digital Accessibility Team is here to support you.
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