To ensure compliance with Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), site developers and business owners must regularly test site functionality and accessible features. While many software products perform automated accessibility tests, those tests have limits. Some manual accessibility testing is necessary to fill in the gaps missed by automation.
Yet, because manual testing can be intimidating and time-consuming for developers and business owners who are not WCAG experts, manual testing efforts are often neglected in favor of automation.
Efforts to become more familiar with the basic processes of manual testing can demystify it as it becomes second nature to site developers and business owners alike. But before a discussion of what manual testing entails, it might be helpful to understand some of the limitations of automated testing to understand precisely why manual testing is so crucial to ensuring site accessibility.
What automated testing misses
Automated testing is an excellent tool for identifying “low-hanging fruit” accessibility issues without being a WCAG expert or footing the expense for expert consultation. But unfortunately, automated testing is not exhaustive or comprehensive and can miss nuanced or uncommon accessibility issues. While there is some debate amongst experts about the scope of most automated testing, most agree that it can identify only about 30-40% of accessibility failures.
One reason for this gap is the guidelines outlined by WCAG are open to interpretation. Designing software with efficient testing mechanisms for every success criterion would be a daunting task for any developer, even without the ambiguity of many guidelines.
But as it stands, the WCAG is filled with nuances that automation can’t always perceive or remedy. Because some criteria require discernment and a fair amount of common-sense judgment calls, human oversight is necessary as a supplement to automation.
Additionally, site coding can be glitchy, affecting how users with disabilities access the site. These coding oversights may not be readily apparent to automated testing but can be easily perceived when tested manually using the assistive technology people with disabilities would use to access the site. For that reason, manual testing is the only surefire way to ensure all users can access all site information without barriers.
With the importance of manual testing in ensuring site accessibility established, it’s clear that it’s worth the investment of time and resources. But what exactly does manual testing entail?
Manual testing basics
The purpose of manual accessibility testing is to check for accessibility issues that automation might not detect. There are some issues that users with disabilities might encounter that require human judgment to identify.
The most basic manual testing measures would include:
- Testing the app or site with a screen reader to ensure content is coherent when read aloud
- Turning off speakers and microphones to ensure the experience is the same with or without sound
- Navigating the site or app with only a keyboard to ensure all content is accessible
As is apparent from this list, most manual testing will revolve around testing site keyboard navigation (versus mouse navigation) and testing a site’s compatibility with assistive technology like screen readers.
Keyboard navigation
Some users with mobility issues cannot operate a mouse effectively, so all sites must be navigable using a computer’s keyboard. Developers should perform manual testing to ensure that users utilizing keyboard navigation can successfully:
- Move between sections of a web page
- Access all menus
- Access links at the top of the page that allows users to skip directly to each page’s vital content
- Access links and form fields with keyboard commands
Screen reader compatibility
Users with visual impairments often employ screen readers—assistive technology that scans the contents of a web page and reads it aloud—to access the internet. Because there are various brands and functionalities of screen readers, and because many assistive situations are difficult to replicate in an automated setting, manual testing is necessary to determine how readable site content is for all possible assistive devices.
Specifically, manual testing can help identify coding issues that create barriers for screen readers to navigate site menus, determine where links lead and understand the context of alternative text. Manual testing can also help identify pages with missing or unclear titles to bring clarity and full context of meaning to users of screen readers.
Next Steps
This is a great starting point but is not meant to be exhaustive. These are simply some manual testing basics. To move beyond these basics, developers and business owners can utilize the assistance of third-party manual testing experts or enlist users with disabilities to provide feedback and input.
The latter option is preferable because nobody can understand the user experience of a person with a disability quite as well as a person with a disability. Their insight is an invaluable source in creating site and app functionality that is truly accessible and inclusive to all.
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