Most websites have some barriers to accessibility, making it challenging for users with disabilities to use them. Testing for accessibility ensures that your website is usable by those who have physical, mental, cognitive, linguistic, neurological, or visual impairments. All of this occurs during the usability testing process.
The site’s budget and requirements, among other things, determine the use of accessibility testing tools. Here is a list of the best manual and automated website accessibility testing tools in2022:
AChecker
- AChecker is a holistic testing tool used to assess the HTML content for a single web page.
- You can test your web pages by uploading an HTML file, entering the URL, or pasting the source code straight into the tool.
- AChecker offers the option to evaluate the website using different accessibility guidelines such as WCAG 1.0, WCAG 2.0, HTML Validator, BITV 1.0, and Section 508.
- This tool can be both used online and offline simply via installation.
WAVE
- It is a community-built free tool designed to facilitate web accessibility testing by offering developers a visual representation of problems directly on their page.
- WAVE is a browser-based tool that assesses a load of issues, ranging from color contrast to ARIA attributes, and is based on compliance standards from Section 508 and WCAG.
JAWS (Job Access with Speech)
- It is the most popular Screen Reader tool for lost vision customers. Some of the good features of JAWS comprise two multi-lingual synthesizers, Viz. Vocalizer Expressive and Eloquence.
- It works with Microsoft Office, IE, and Firefox and supports Windows with its touchscreen gesture.
Dynomapper
- Dynomapper is a Visual Sitemap Generator of 4 types Circle, Tree, Folder, and Default. It evaluates the HTML contents of the site and can generate a sitemap from any URL.
- It imports XML files to generate the sitemap. It also provides content audit and inventory for filtering pages, images, and files.
aXe
- Like WAVE, aXe has extensions for Firefox & Chrome; however, the aXe extensions are more developer-focused. The aXe extension is an incredible tool for developers. When you run the report on a page, you get a list of all flaws.
- It works on all modern browsers and supports static fixtures, in-memory integration tests, and iframes of infinite depth. It is designed to work with whatever libraries, frameworks, environments & tools you have today.
Siteimprove
- Siteimprove is a highly effective website monitoring tool for accessibility and quality assurance.
- The best thing about Siteimprove is that it offers a cohort of skilled accessibility testers who can deliver both manual and automated testing solutions.
- Through a team of accessibility testers, Siteimprove addresses Office of Civil Rights (OCR) compliance and successfully resolves OCR complaints.
- You also have access to a thorough audit report outlining corrective measures and new content planning.
Equally AI
- Equally AI is regarded as a top-tier automated web accessibility compliance tool that is well-known for assisting users in ensuring that their websites and apps comply with all legal requirements for web accessibility.
- The tool can offer a pleasant and reliable experience for disabled users.
- Equally AI provides a straightforward user interface that includes specific display options, making testing easy in different accessibility scenarios.
- The tool’s mobility solution allows you or your users to test the accessibility of your website using only a keyboard.
- Equally AI is managed by a dedicated team of testers, who ensure this tool is used correctly.
Google Lighthouse
- Google Lighthouse is an open-source platform that automates website accessibility testing through Google Chrome.
- It is available in Chrome Developer Tools and does not require additional extensions or configurations.
- Lighthouse performs a variety of audits that cover a wide range of WCAG requirements, such as missing alt text, lower color contrast ratios, and so on.
- This tool rates your website’s accessibility after each round of auditing and provides recommendations for improving it.
SortSite
- SortSite is a popular one-click user experience testing tool for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
- The tool is fully compatible with desktop, Internet Explorer, and mobile browsers.
- SortSite evaluates your website’s accessibility following existing accessibility standards such as WCAG 1.0 85, WCAG 2.0 110, and Section 508 15 US 47.
- This tool is helpful because it efficiently checks for HTTP error codes as well as script errors. Additionally, it validates CSS, HTML, and XHTML.
UserWay
- UserWay is an innovative accessibility compliance tool that employs artificial intelligence to guarantee that the website or application provides a wonderful user experience to those in need of accessibility assistance.
- It can be quickly added to your website as a plugin to provide an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly interface.
- By allowing you to move the widget and alter its size, position, or color, UserWay also lets you personalize the user interface.
Testing for website accessibility is done to find and fix any compliance problems. The tools mentioned above assist in making your website or application more accessible to disabled users. You might consider looking for reputable accessibility testing services that can help you fix different website accessibility problems.
Originally published at https://www.impactqa.com on November 14, 2022.
