Accessibility Testing

Introduction

Accessibility Testing is a type of Non-Functional Testing in which we make sure that the application is accessible and usable for a maximum number of people, regardless of their circumstances or disabilities.

Why Accessibility Testing is Important

1. Legal Compliance: Meeting the accessibility standards set by laws and regulations helps avoid legal repercussions.
2. Inclusive Design: Ensures that the application can be used by people with varying disabilities, such as visual, auditory, cognitive, and motor impairments.
3. Wider Audience Reach: Making an application accessible means that it can be used by a larger audience, including elderly users and those with temporary disabilities.
4. Better Usability for All: Improvements made for accessibility often enhance the overall usability of the application for all users.

Many countries have formal guidelines and requirements on accessibility of applications, which often need to be met. For-example Americans with Disabilities Act makes big companies legally liable for their applications in case they are not accessible to the disabled people. In the European Union, the European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive serve the same purpose.

WCAG

Every country has their own accessibility laws, however, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a singular widely accepted standard which conforms to most laws around the World, hence we typically refer to the WCAG when developing web applications.

WCAG is a set of comprehensive guidelines on how to improve accessibility of the web pages and hence it's impossible to cover them in a single chapter. You can find out more about it over here.