What Is WCAG Testing?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide guidelines and success criteria for making web content perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for users with various disabilities, including those who are blind or visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, or have mobility or cognitive impairments.

WCAG testing refers to the process of evaluating websites and digital content for compliance with the WCAG guidelines. WCAG is a set of international standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to help create and make accessible web content to people with disabilities. WCAG testing involves assessing websites and digital content against a series of guidelines and success criteria outlined in the WCAG documentation.

WCAG success criteria

The WCAG success criteria are organized into four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR). Each principle contains specific guidelines and testable success criteria for achieving accessibility.

Here is a brief overview of the WCAG success criteria:

1. Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presented in a way that can be perceived by all users, including those with disabilities. Perceivable success criteria include requirements for providing text alternatives for non-text content (e.g., alt text for images), ensuring content is adaptable and distinguishable, and providing alternatives for time-based media.
2. Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable by all users, including those with disabilities. Operable success criteria include requirements for keyboard accessibility, providing sufficient time for users to interact with content, avoiding content that could cause seizures, and ensuring navigation is predictable and consistent.
3. Understandable: Information and user interface components must be understandable to all users, including those with disabilities. Understandable success criteria include requirements for clear and concise content, predictable website behavior, input assistance for users, and minimizing errors and providing helpful error messages.
4. Robust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. Robust success criteria include requirements for using valid HTML, providing metadata and semantic structure, ensuring compatibility with assistive technologies, and avoiding deprecated features that may become obsolete.

There are three levels of conformance assigned to each success criterion: Level A (minimum level of accessibility), Level AA (recommended level for most websites), and Level AAA (highest level of accessibility). Meeting Level AA conformance is generally considered the baseline for accessibility compliance, for regulations such as the ADA and Section 508, but organizations may choose to aim for Level AAA conformance depending on their specific accessibility goals and requirements.

Success criteria example

Let’s demonstrate how a success criterion actually looks. For example, success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) is a Level AA WCAG criterion. The criterion stipulates that the visual presentation of text and images of text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. An exception is made for large text, incidental text, or logos.

This success criterion falls under the “Perceivable” principle and addresses the need for sufficient color contrast between text and background elements to ensure readability for users with low vision or color blindness.

How to test websites for WCAG conformance?

WCAG testing typically involves the following steps:

1. Review Guidelines and Success Criteria: Familiarize yourself with the WCAG guidelines and success criteria. Each principle includes specific guidelines and testable success criteria for achieving accessibility.
2. Conduct Automated Testing: Use automated accessibility testing tools to scan the website and identify common accessibility issues, such as missing alt text for images, insufficient color contrast, and keyboard navigation problems.
3. Perform Manual Testing: Conduct manual testing to identify accessibility issues that automated tools might miss. This involves using assistive technologies such as screen readers, keyboard navigation, and voice recognition software to interact with the website and identify barriers to accessibility.
4. Evaluate Compliance: Assess the website against the WCAG success criteria to determine its level of compliance. Evaluate whether the website meets the success criteria in alignment with the three conformance levels for the desired conformance level.
5. Document Findings: Document the results of the WCAG testing, including a summary of accessibility issues identified, their severity and impact on users, and recommendations for remediation. This information can be used to prioritize accessibility improvements and develop a remediation plan.
6. Iterate and Validate: After addressing identified accessibility issues, retest the website to ensure that the changes have been effectively implemented and that the website now meets the WCAG success criteria. Iterate on the testing and remediation process as needed to achieve and maintain accessibility compliance.

By following these steps, organizations can conduct WCAG testing to assess and improve the accessibility of their websites and digital content, ensuring that they are usable and inclusive for all users, including those with disabilities.

Professional WCAG testing

Following all the steps mentioned above can be difficult, especially for smaller organizations that do not have the manpower or sufficient resources to direct into this regulatory requirement. This is why many businesses and organizations, be it small- or medium-sized businesses, outsource this project to third-party web accessibility vendors.

Choosing to test and remediate your website with a web accessibility provider can alleviate a lot of the headache and time-consuming energy that WCAG conformance requires. Although it does involve costs, in the long run, they are more cost-effective for several reasons:

1. Quality WCAG Testing: The testing is conducted by professionals, eschewing potential mistakes made by those unfamiliar with WCAG demands and regulatory complexities.
2. Automated Tools: Web accessibility providers have robust and advanced web accessibility evaluation tools. They have been testing websites against WCAG success criteria for years, and know how to do this job efficiently and quickly. Some of these tools are automated and even powered by AI technology, making the process more efficient and free of error.
3. Legal Risk: Validating websites against WCAG standards on your own, without the expertise of web accessibility professionals, can be legally risky. Maintaining an accessible website is a legal requirement in most world countries nowadays, and violating WCAG guidelines can result in hefty accessibility-related lawsuits. So even if you decide to test your website on your own and do everything by yourself, you might still receive a lawsuit and end up paying more than you would have by testing with an accessibility vendor.

The benefits of WCAG testing via professionals

Let’s then distill the benefits of testing websites for WCAG validation with web accessibility experts.

Expertise

This one is obvious. Web accessibility vendors have expertise in WCAG standards, accessibility best practices, and testing methodologies. They can provide specialized knowledge and guidance to help ensure thorough and accurate testing.

Efficiency

Accessibility vendors often use automated testing tools and streamlined processes to efficiently identify accessibility issues and provide actionable recommendations for remediation. This can help expedite the testing and remediation process, saving time and resources.

Comprehensive Testing

Accessibility vendors can conduct comprehensive testing using a combination of automated tools, manual testing methods, and assistive technologies. This holistic approach helps ensure that websites are thoroughly evaluated for accessibility across different dimensions and user scenarios.

Validation and Certification

Some accessibility vendors offer validation and certification services, where they assess websites for compliance with WCAG standards and issue certificates or seals of approval. This can provide reassurance to stakeholders and demonstrate a commitment to accessibility.

The disadvantages of WCAG testing via professionals

Cost

Engaging web accessibility vendors can be costly, particularly for comprehensive testing and ongoing monitoring services. The cost may be prohibitive for small businesses or organizations with limited budgets.

Dependency

Relying solely on accessibility vendors for testing and remediation may create a dependency on external expertise and resources. This can limit internal capacity for learning and maintaining accessibility skills within the organization.

Lack of Customization

Accessibility vendors may offer standardized testing methodologies and reports that may not fully align with the unique needs and priorities of each organization. This can result in a one-size-fits-all approach that may not address specific accessibility challenges effectively.

Privacy and Security Concerns

Sharing sensitive website information and data with third-party vendors may raise concerns about privacy and security, particularly if the vendor does not have robust data protection measures in place.

Overall, web accessibility vendors can provide valuable expertise and resources for conducting WCAG testing. However, organizations should carefully select which vendor to conduct their WCAG testing for efficient costs, customization concerns, and privacy implications. So while testing your website through professionals is recommended, it is also highly advisable to choose wisely which vendor to conduct this testing. A vendor that will guarantee privacy protection, low costs, and customizable options is the surest way to go.

WCAG testing with EqualWeb

EqualWeb is a software development company that makes the web accessible for people with disabilities, providing a wide array of state-of-the-art tools that enable businesses and organizations to create accessible websites and digital content, complying with the law.

EqualWeb can test any website, big or small, against WCAG guidelines, issuing a report at the end of the evaluation process, which documents all the accessibility issues according to the list of success criteria.

By choosing EqualWeb, you benefit from all worlds: you get to use the most advanced technological tools to test your website while paying the lowest price in the market. EqualWeb guarantees to protect its clients’ data and privacy, conducting thorough evaluation scans against the highest WCAG standards in accordance with the client’s specific needs.

If specificity is what your organization is looking for, EqualWeb can provide it with the utmost professionalism and efficiency.

EqualWeb puts at your disposal:

• Certified web accessibility experts
• Efficient AI-powered testing tools
• Vast knowledge and experience
• Legal consultation
• Manual WCAG testing, including assistive technologies
• Comprehensive and friendly accessibility evaluation report
• Privacy and security protection
• Customizable testing options
• Cost-effective testing options and plans
• A wide range of remediation tools and solutions
• Periodic monitoring for year-round maintenance

Schedule a meeting with an EqualWeb expert right now, free of charge and no strings attached.