5 Reasons to start Accessibility Testing in 2024

This article might sound like a non-starter. Surely Accessibility testing is always important?! Well, let's run over the main benefits, and how you can make sure you are ticking all the boxes.

1. Equal Experience for all

Every single user that comes to your site / app / blog has a baseline expectation, to be able to interact, navigate and read your content in a way that they are comfortable. If someone using only a keyboard cannot get to key areas, they are having a degraded experience to those that use a mouse.

2. It's the Law!

Something we all agree with, if you are creating an amazing shopping experience, why should it discriminate against anyone? WCAG and other standards were created to give a level playing field, and tooling, like DoesQA, has made checking against these standards as easy as possible.

3. Not just about clicking buttons

Theres more to these standards, and a lot of them have knock-on effects to ensuring that your SEO is top tier:

Performance Metrics

How long does it take to load the page? Do you have loads of un-used JavaScript clogging up the browser? Optimizing performance metrics not only improves accessibility but also enhances the overall user experience, making your site more efficient and responsive.

SEO Metrics

How well is your content structured for search engines? Proper use of headings, alt text, and semantic HTML can significantly boost your site's visibility and accessibility in search engine results.

Best Practices

Are you following the latest web development standards? Adhering to best practices in coding and design ensures a more accessible and maintainable website, reducing future technical debt and improving user satisfaction.

PWA (Progressive Web App)

Does your site work well on all devices and connection speeds? A well-implemented PWA ensures that your website is not only accessible but also provides a seamless and engaging experience across different platforms and network conditions.

4. You actually save money

A majority of search engines (Google, Bing etc) use these metrics to score your website, if you reach high scores, this has a large positive impact on your organic traffic, saving that money spent on advertisements and other paid sources.

5. Better user experience as a by-product

Each and every improvement to any section relating to Accessibility Testing has an added benefit of improving the entire experience of your website for all users!

Some important FAQ's and additional info:

What is considered a "good" score on Lighthouse?

Whilst the score is out of 100 for each of the sections, anything above 90 is considered "good"

What is a bad score on Lighthouse?

Anything below 50 (0-49) is considered poor, and in need of major improvement. Each rule has a weight, so you might find that fixing the major items has a large improvement in the score.

How can I test Lighthouse scores automatically on my website?

Head to DoesQA, grab an account, and drag in our "Validators" to check scores. Set up a schedule or CI/CD webhook integration to continually test these scores over time.

How can I test against WCAG2A, WCAG2AA and WCAG2AAA rules?

Using DoesQA, simply drag in our Pa11y node, and select the desired conformance level, hit play, and within a few moments, you will have a list of issues, or a glowing green report!

Do different viewports / devices get different accessibility scores?

Yes! You could get an amazing score on Desktop, but make sure to use Tablet and Phone viewports / emulation to get total validation.

How much does it cost to check for Accessibility?

Google Chrome has Lighthouse built in, but if you want to test WCAG2 standards, and be able to run all of these checks daily on 30+ devices, head to DoesQA to get started. In less than 5 minutes, you can have tests across your site, and piece of mind that you are following the guidelines set.

How can I monitor my WCAG2 scores over time?

Create a simple test in DoesQA, and schedule it to run daily / weekly to get insights into how your site is performing over a longer period. Like having a time-machine, the past is always present.

Ready to get started? We are!