{"id":310,"date":"2022-10-26T15:23:57","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T12:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.accessi.org\/blog\/?p=310"},"modified":"2023-03-27T18:57:36","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:57:36","slug":"manual-accessibility-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.accessi.org\/blog\/manual-accessibility-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Your Website Need Manual Accessibility Testing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manual accessibility testing involves a manual inspection of your website or application to determine whether it is accessible to users with disabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to statistics, 15% of the world\u2019s population suffers from one disability or the other. 97.4% of websites all over the world do not offer full accessibility thereby alienating about 1 billion people from using the internet. Laws have been put in place to ensure that more businesses make their websites accessible to people with disabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Manual Accessibility Testing?<\/span><\/h1>\n

A manual accessibility test is a manual inspection of your website or application to determine whether it is accessible to users with disabilities. It is essential to run this type of test to catch issues that an automated test may not find.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Manually testing websites ensures that the website is as inclusive as possible and can reach the widest audience. In doing this, it is easier to get a clearer picture of how users interact with the content being shared and provides solutions for improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Manual VS Automated Accessibility Testing<\/span><\/h2>\n

While automated tools are great<\/a>, they only find about 30% of errors and sometimes generate false positives. Automated accessibility allows you to identify accessibility issues throughout your digital presence, while manual testing is necessary for problems that require human scrutiny. Hence, accessibility auditors always recommend that humans get included in the accessibility testing process of a website.<\/span><\/p>\n

In general, automated and manual testing are the best ways to ensure accessibility for most websites. There are some areas that humans can handle more efficiently than machines and vice versa.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Manual Accessibility Testing Checklist<\/span><\/h2>\n

These are some of the vital things to be on the lookout for when conducting a manual accessibility test.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Testing Website with Screen Reader<\/span><\/h3>\n

People with visual disabilities always rely on screen readers to navigate a website. There are several tools available like; ChromVox, Voiceover, and Jaws. Each screen reader may have slight differences in controls. To determine how accessible your content is for assistive technologies, manual testing is necessary. Several assistive situations like navigating menus, understanding where links lead, or alternative texts may be harder to replicate in an automated setting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Things to look out for when testing with a screen reader:<\/span><\/h3>\n