How Manual Accessibility Audits Can Benefit Your Website
Catching and remediating accessibility issues is a crucial part of developing a website, mobile app, or software. Without manual accessibility audits from users with lived experience in accessibility, you won’t know for sure if your software is accessible.
What is a Manual Accessibility Audit?
A manual accessibility audit tests if users living with a disability can access your website and its content.
- Can users perceive the content and controls on my website?
- Can users operate controls on my website and navigate between pages?
- Can users understand the purpose and meaning of my website and its content?
- Can users access my website across different devices and platforms?
A manual accessibility audit consists of testing a set of web pages or app screens using a variety of browsers, devices, and assistive technologies. When you work with WeCo, your software is always tested by hand by an expert living with at least one disability. All issues are manually verified before being entered into a report, and we test using real-world environments that match how your testers use your product.
All manual audits come with a comprehensive report detailing every accessibility issue we find, how to recreate the issue, and recommendations on how to fix the issue.
How to prepare for your Manual Accessibility Audit
Are you ready to have a manual audit conducted on your site? If so, you’ll want to take a few steps to prepare.
- Identify the most important pages to test. Think about:
- Which pages get the most traffic
- Which pages require the most user interaction
- Any pages users have complained about
- Where possible, list pages generated from common components or templates.
- Once you have a list of pages, disable any accessibility overlays on the site. WeCo does not test pages with overlays enabled because overlays skew audit results and do not represent the actual accessibility of your website.
- List any user flows you want tested, such as making a purchase or logging into a user account. Provide login credentials to access any member-only areas or staging sites.
How WeCo can help you
At WeCo, our accessibility specialists will work to make your accessibility testing experience as easy and informative as possible. Our manual auditor team all live with one or more disability, and they are trained to give you valuable feedback about technical and content-related accessibility issues found on your site.
Learn more about WeCo’s manual accessibility audit services. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us!