Testing Website Accessibility
Trusted Tester
The Department of Homeland Security provides free, self-paced, online accessibility training through the Trusted Tester Training Program. The program includes the following courses:
- What Is Section 508 and Why It Is Important
- Section 508 Standards for Web
- Trusted Tester Testing Tools
- Trusted Tester Training for Web
- Trusted Tester for Web Practice Exam
- Trusted Tester for Web Certification Exam
Although Section 508 applies primarily to federal government agencies, the Trusted Tester program provides a baseline for accessibility standards required for Clemson University. Upon completion, participants will have a strong understanding of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and testing methodologies to evaluate conformance. Learn more and register online for the Trusted Tester Training Program.
Automated Testing
Automated testing plays a key role in accessibility evaluation. The following tools can quickly identify accessibility defects in websites and provide recommendations for remediation.
SiteImprove
Marketing and Communications provides SiteImprove for monitoring www.clemson.edu websites. In addition to identifying accessibility issues, SiteImprove provides feedback on broken links, misspelled words and search engine optimization (SEO). Submit a Website Services technical update with Marketing and Communications to request access to SiteImprove.
ANDI
ANDI (Accessible Name & Description Inspector) is a free accessibility testing tool, installed as a web browser bookmarklet. ANDI is used in the Trusted Tester process for combined manual and automated testing. Features include inspecting focusable elements, alternative text for images, page structure and color contrast. Follow these instructions to install ANDI.
axe DevTools
The axe DevTools are ideal for web developers. When installed, this browser extension is available in the browser's developer tools. The axe DevTools performs full-page scans, highlights accessibility defects and best practices and provides instructions for remediation. Notably, it is designed to return zero false positives. The axe-core engine can also be integrated as a linter for your Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and can be used to automate accessibility tests in Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.
WAVE
WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) is another popular browser extension for accessibility testing. WAVE's features include identifying accessibility issues, page structure, color contrast and the reading order of page elements.
Manual Testing
Automated testing alone does not ensure accessibility. Manual testing is required to fully evaluate conformance to accessibility standards.
The following pages in this guide cover advanced concepts that web developers must consider when building websites, including aspects that require manual testing.
A Note on Overlays
Be very wary of products that claim fully automated accessibility fixes. Some vendors may claim that purchasing and installing a tool will make your website ADA compliant. This is a myth. While some remediation can be automated, we can't automate it all. As a simple example, automatic video captions are not always 100 percent accurate. Similarly, automating remediation of accessibility issues related to alternative text or keyboard access is not reliable.
Accessibility is about the human experience. Design with accessibility in mind. Leverage tools to quickly identify issues. Test manually. No automated tool provides a web accessibility panacea.
