by JP Corcoran
"Stop it at the start, it's late for medicine to be prepared when disease
has grown strong through long delays"
This 2,000 year-old adage from Roman poet Ovid may bear no relevance to the
field of technology, but there is one underlying message that holds true;
prevention is better than cure. Similarly, is it not better for a website to
embrace best practices in universal design from the outset, rather than rely
solely on automated tools that may fail to address the source of the
problem?
What is a website accessibility checker?
A website accessibility checker is a tool that attempts to evaluate a
website's accessibility based on various accessibility guidelines and
standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed
by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Accessibility involves a wide range
of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive,
language, learning, and neurological disabilities.
Such tools have a relatively short history, dating back to the late 1990s
and early 2000s when the internet was becoming increasingly popular. During
this time, web developers began to realise the importance of creating
websites that were accessible to people with disabilities.
These accessibility checkers scan a website's content and HTML code and
provide feedback on potential accessibility barriers that may prevent users
with disabilities from accessing and using the website. This may include
issues with text alternatives for non-text content, keyboard accessibility,
colour contrast, and more.
Other terms often associated with web accessibility checkers include web
accessibility overlays and automated accessibility tools. Popular examples
of such tools include accessiBe, Lighthouse, Deque axe, ReciteME, and WAVE.
Strengths and Limitations of Automated Tools
An automated tool that will check the accessibility of a website for you?
Surely this can only be a good thing? Website accessibility checkers can
certainly be helpful in identifying accessibility issues and providing
guidance for website developers and designers to improve the accessibility
of their websites. However, there are also several limitations and potential
drawbacks to consider. Let's explore some of the pros and cons of website
accessibility checkers.
Strengths
Accessibility testing tools such as the accessiBe and WAVE can help detect
if a web page is inaccessible and identify issues that might otherwise be
time consuming or difficult to identify manually. They will catch things
such as missing Alt text, form controls without labels, and contrast errors.
Automated testing tools excel when the decision logic can be boiled down to
a simple yes or no answer, and that answer can be determined using machine
accessible data. Automated tools can quickly locate a lot of obvious
problems, reducing the initial time one needs to spend looking over a page
for problems.
Limitations
Passing automated accessibility testing however does not mean that a website
or application is accessible. The greatest danger with automated
accessibility tools is the assumption that they can somehow replace human
involvement in improving accessibility. They are only one part of the
toolkit. Sole reliance on them as sole indicators of accessibility
compliance gives a false sense of security. In addition they may
inaccurately portray a site or app as being fully accessible to people with
disabilities when in fact problems exist. Evaluating website accessibility
is an art not a science - it can't be reduced to running a site through an
automated tool. A level of human interaction will always be required to
assure that content is fully accessible. An automated tool is not a complete
solution.
Will automated accessibility tests ever replace actual accessibility
testing?
While automated accessibility testing tools are a great option for checking
large volumes of content quickly, they can't replace the human eye when it
comes to identifying nuanced issues with design and navigation. Manual
accessibility testing is therefore still an essential part of any web
development process.
Overall, website accessibility checkers can be a valuable tool in improving
website accessibility, but they should be used in combination with manual
testing and expert knowledge to ensure the best results.
This is why we need to treat automated accessibility tools such as
accessiBe, Wave, and Lighthouse with a degree of caution and not a silver
bullet for creating accessible websites. Taking this approach brings us
closer to the ideals set out by Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the internet:
"The power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless
of disability is an essential aspect."
NCBI Technology News.
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