Testing for Web Accessibility in 60 Seconds
You want to make your website more accessible, but you don’t know where to start. If you have 60 seconds, I can help.
Recently, I gave a presentation on how to test for web accessibility with free tools. That was the 30 minute version, but you can also get a broad overview of a site’s accessibility quickly. It won’t tell you everything you want to know, but it will give you a baseline. Use it as you develop your site or application.
Focus on the Basics
- Install the Wave Toolbar or Chrome Extension.
- Use Wave to check your page structure using its “Outline” feature. Do you have a reasonable heading structure?
- Next, also using Wave, turn off CSS. Does your linear source order make sense?
- Again, with Wave, test for any errors. Your images should have alt attributes (icon fonts too). Your clickable elements should be links or buttons and your form elements should have labels.
- Next, test for keyboard accessibility by tabbing through your page or application. Can you get to everything with just a keyboard. Visually, can you see where you are on the page?
If you have any time left, start fixing bugs. 🙂 You’ll probably find some, and that’s okay. What you did doesn’t matter as much as what you do next.
The information I shared here isn’t new. Terrill Thompson wrote about his own 10-second accessibility test. Derek Featherstone penned a post about how to be a keyboard accessibility super hero.
Image courtesy of Pexels.com.