Basic Accessibility Testing
Testing makes sure that what gets built actually works for everyone.
What’s in it
What is it for?
Testing makes sure that what gets built actually works for everyone. The goal is to never accidentally ship a beautiful page that's completely broken for someone using a screen reader or a keyboard.
While automated tools are awesome, they aren't magic. They only catch about 30% of accessibility errors. An automated tool can check if a picture has an image description (alt text), but it can't tell you if the description actually makes sense. You still have to use your own judgment to check the rest.
How to support it
You don't need to be an expert to test your site. Try these three quick checks right now.
- Use 'Tab' to move forward, 'Shift + Tab' to go back, 'Enter' or 'Space' to select, the arrow keys inside menus and radio buttons, and 'Escape' to close pop-ups. Check that you can reach every button without a mouse.
- Zoom your browser to 200% using 'Ctrl' or 'Cmd' and '+'. Ensure text doesn't overlap or vanish off the screen.
- Run a free scanner like Lighthouse or Axe DevTools (external site) in Chrome. It'll quickly flag basic bugs like poor colour contrast.