Accessibility Testing in Six Steps
Found on: What is an Accessibility Testing Tool? blog post
1. Plan – Define Your Goals & Scope
Prioritize usability for all users; that’s the core purpose of digital accessibility.
Understand your legal requirements, and know which compliance level, like WCAG 2.1 AA, applies to you.
Define your testing scope, choose key pages, components, or user flows that impact your users most.
2. Automated Scan
Run an automated scanner, quickly catch common, easy-to-detect accessibility issues.
Get a fast first impression. Scans give you a quick snapshot of a website’s overall digital accessibility health.
3. Manual Review & Testing
Dig deeper into usability testing: check keyboard navigation, screen reader behavior, and visual structure.
Test what scanners cannot, such as focus order, modals, contextual alt text, and accessible name/role.
Include real users with disabilities for real-world insights and help learn best practices from their perspectives.
4. Report & Prioritize
Group issues in a clear format, organized by WCAG criteria, severity, and location.
Triage the most critical blockers. Fix high-impact, high-frequency issues first.
5. Fix & Retest
Assign fixes to the right team members: developers, designers, or content editors.
Recheck each fix manually or with tools, and confirm the issue is fully resolved.
Keep notes and comments for future reference, which are helpful for audits and team learning.
6. Monitor & Maintain
Schedule regular scans, monthly or post-release checks, to help prevent regressions.
Retest after site updates since new code or content can reintroduce issues.
Make accessibility part of your process. Integrate checks into dev, QA, and content workflows.
Keep Accessibility Ongoing
Accessibility isn’t a one-time task—make it part of your regular workflow.
Build with Everyone in Mind
Make your site work for all users, regardless of ability.
Need Help?
Use tools like AAArdvark to simplify scanning, fixing, and tracking accessibility.
Try free: a20y.com
