As 2021 came to a close this month, Diamond released their 3rd annual State of Accessibility Report. For this annual report, the firm tests the accessibility of websites to analyze each site’s usability for people with disabilities. This year, they also conducted testing on mobile apps.
The Diamond team conducted testing on the registration and login/logout processes of the Alexa Top 100 websites using Voiceover, NVDA, and JAWS. The team also tested criteria from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Websites and mobile apps provide digital access to a wide array of goods and services. They’re also an important part of how we communicate with one another socially and professionally. When websites and apps are not accessible, people with disabilities can face barriers in performing daily activities like making purchases, connecting with friends, or searching for employment. This is even more important now, as the pandemic forced much of business and personal interactions to go fully digital.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other disability rights laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. If people with disabilities are unable to use an app fully and independently due to accessibility barriers, that can constitute discrimination and be unlawful. Companies should work towards eliminating any accessibility barriers by having their websites and apps tested for accessibility and making the necessary updates to allow everyone to enjoy their apps and websites.
The State of Accessibility Report found that website accessibility among the top 100 websites had improved:
While it’s concerning that 29% of the websites tested were not accessible, there was a notable improvement from the 2019 number in which:
While there is still clearly work to do, this is cause for celebration overall as we are seeing a positive trend towards greater digital accessibility.
Diamond tested the top 20 free apps on the Android and iOS App stores. They also tested the top 20 paid apps from each app store. Since this was Diamond’s first year testing mobile apps, we do not have data to compare to from prior years. However, one thing that did become clear was there is some room for improvement in the mobile app market.
When testing screen reader accessibility:
In order to pass the accessibility test, a tester had to be able to perform the main feature of the app using a screen-reader without difficulty. It is disappointing to see that developers of paid apps do not appear to be investing time or resources into making their apps accessible, particularly on the iOS store.
Diamond conducted manual testing of mobile apps to check for features such as text resizing, alt text, ability to change orientation when turning your phone, and heading structure. The results were as follows:
Text resizing was the biggest shortcoming across the board. This feature is important for those with low vision. Ideally, the text in a mobile app should be resized to fit the user’s chosen preferences from their mobile device settings.
As we look towards the start of a new year, it's a good idea to consider what can be improved going forward.
While optimizing websites and mobile applications to make them accessible can require a bit of time, companies have a legal obligation to make their sites accessible. Having an accessible website or mobile app also allows companies to reach a wider audience, as people with disabilities make up about 26% of the population.
Some major areas of improvement that companies should work on going into the new year include:
Accessibility should not be an afterthought when building websites or apps. Paid apps in particular should be providing users with a premium experience, yet they appear to be behind in accessibility. We hope to see this improve in 2022.