The Problem With Automated Accessibility Testing Tools
|
|
An automated accessibility tool is a piece of software which can test a web page, or even an entire website, for accessibility. Automated accessibility tools are useful because they can save you a huge amount of time. Don't want to check images for alt text on each and every page on your website? Run the site through an automated tester and it'll do it all for you!
Automated accessibility testing tools have been around for a long time and have historically been a useful way of checking websites for accessibility. Bobby, one of the first and most well-known automated accessibility testing tools, is now almost 10 years, and although is no longer freely available, plenty of other free tools such as WebXact (http://webxact.watchfire.com/) and Wave (http://wave.webaim.org/index.jsp)do exist.
But are these tools a little too good to be true? Can you test a website for accessibility so easily? Unfortunately the answer is a resounding no. There are a number of underlying problems associated with using just automated tools to test for accessibility:
Literal interpretation of guidelines
Any automated accessibility testing tool, being a piece of software, doesn't have very much in the way of common sense. It will interpret each and every accessibility guideline literally, without bearing any other thought to what else is on the page.
The definition of the word guideline, according to Dictionary.com, is "a rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behaviour". A guideline simply offers guidance to what the best practice is - it shouldn't just be applied without regard to other factors.
For example, one of the W3C accessibility guidelines states that a table summary should be provided for all tables. (This summary doesn't appear on the screen, but it's read aloud to screen reader users before reading through the table content.) Table summaries are useful as they tell screen reader users what to expect in the table. However, there may be a heading directly before the table and it describes what the table is about. In this instance, this summary is essentially useless as it will just repeat what the previous heading said.
Can't check any content issues
The way that content is structured both on the page and across the website is a massive part of accessibility. A website may be perfectly coded and conform to the highest coding standards. If its content is poorly structured though, the site will prove difficult to impossible for some special needs web users.
There are a number of important accessible content considerations, none of which automated accessibility testing tools can check for. Some of these important considerations include:
- Front-loading content so that each paragraph begins with the conclusion
- Ensuring content has been broken down into manageable chunks with descriptive sub-headings
- Using lists wherever appropriate
- Ensuring that plain and simple language is used
Can't check many coding issues
The vast number of accessibility guidelines tend to be related to how the site is coded. Automated accessibility testing tools are unfortunately unable to test for many of these too. Examples of HTML-related accessibility considerations which these tools can't check for include:
- Ensuring that text is real text and isn't embedded within images
- Making sure that the site functions without the use of JavaScript or Flash
- Providing equivalent text links if using server-side image maps
- Ensuring that the structure within the HTML reflects the visual appearance (e.g. headings are labelled as headings within the HTML code)
Outdated guidelines are used
Automated accessibility testing tools generally use the W3C accessibility guidelines, which by now are over five years old. As such, a number of these guidelines are outdated and don't apply anymore. In fact, some of them are now thought to hinder accessibility rather than help, so it's best to totally ignore these guidelines.
For example, an automated accessibility testing tool will probably insist that form items contain default place holding text. It may also insist that links need to be separated by non-link text. Neither of these guidelines are relevant anymore and their implementation could make accessibility worse rather than better.
Most guidelines aren't properly checked
Automated accessibility tools can check for a number of guidelines, and can tell you when a guideline isn't being adhered to. However, when the tool claims that a guideline is being fulfilled this may in fact be a false truth.
For example, if all images contain alt text then the software will report a pass for this guideline. But what if the alt text isn't descriptive of its image? What if alt text is crammed full of nonsensical keywords for search engines? How can an automated accessibility tool possibly know this?
Warnings may be misinterpreted
The reports generated by automated accessibility tools provide warnings, as well as errors. These warnings are basically guidelines that the automated tool can't check for, but which may be errors. Often they're not, and in fact they're often not even relevant. However, some people reading a report may try to get rid of these warning messages by making the appropriate changes to their site. By doing so, they may be implementing guidelines that needn't be implemented and inadvertently lowering the website's accessibility.
Conclusion
Automated accessibility testing tools can be useful as they can save a large amount of time in performing some very basic checks for accessibility. However, they must be used with caution and they cannot be used as a stand-alone guide for accessibility checking. Indeed, some expert accessibility knowledge should always be applied in evaluating a site accessibility, perhaps in conjunction with the fantastic web accessibility toolbar (http://www.nils.org.au/ais/web/resources/toolbar/) to help dramatically speed up manual checks.
This article was written by Trenton Moss. He's crazy about web usability and accessibility - so crazy that he went and started his own web usability and accessibility consultancy (Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk)
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE NewsletterBuild A Strong Foundation For Creating Your First Online Identity ? Notes For Beginners
If you are looking for creating your online presence you should follow some of the basic requirements so that your new website will have a strong foundation. Today internet is a growing media which can provide you maximum results, which no other media can do for you. If you think on right direction and take your action step by step, it is almost certain that your site will have a strong online presence and reach to the maximum of you potential clients.Remember empires never built in day, but it takes years of dedicated hard work, devotion, patience and to work constantly towards creating it successfully. If you are a slow mover but consistent towards your work, there is no reason your efforts will fail. Small efforts which you repeat day in and day out results 100% success in due time course. It ...(related: Web Development)
7 Tips To Make Your Order Page Work Harder
So your prospect, Mary, is sitting at the computer reading your compelling sales letter. She's convinced she needs your product. So she clicks on the order link, with her credit card next to the mouse. She's taken to the order page. What she sees next makes her change her mind and click away. Can you prevent bail out at the crucial moment of ordering? You betcha!Here are 7 surefire tips to make your order page work harder for you?
The Most Important Aspect Of Writing Web Copy
There is an ongoing debate about web copy. Some say that it should be similar to direct mail copy. Others state that is should be written in a more editorial, news offering style. However, both styles work. Both styles generate thousands of dollars of money for the website owners. Why is this?The reason is...(related: Web Development)
6 Steps To Your Own Website
A lot of people these days are interested in getting their own place on the world wide web. Whether itīs a personal site like a blog, or a business site, they all need to have a decent plan before they get started.A few years ago I started designing and creating websites...(related: Web Development)
You Dont Know Which One
I still remember it very clear ... It was almost a decade ago that I wrote it in my notebook as an interesting quotation from a famous man at that time and even now and ever. Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet president, shared this so-called joke with some reporters: "Mitterand has 100 lovers. One has AIDS, but he doesn't know which one. Bush has 100 bodyguards. One is a terrorist, but he doesn't know which one. Gorbachev has 100 economic advisers. One is smart, but he doesn't know which one!"After all these years, After I found it and read it again, noticed how interesting it can be when we expand and continue it with the notion of web and marketting via web sites and/or e-mails. Yes, according to your log files, you have 100 visitors for your web site. One is a buyer, but you don't know which one! You ...(related: Web Development)
Effectively Using Robots Meta Tags
The "robots" meta tag, when used properly, will tell the search engine spiders whether or not to index and follow a particular page. For the purposes of this article, we will be using the "( )" symbols to represent the "< >" in html coding.Some examples of robot usage are as follows:(meta name="robots" content="index,follow")(meta name...(related: Web Development)
How To Get Your Website In Front Of Thousands Of Customers At No Cost To You!
Dan Kennedy once said that if you can't make money without money? then? you won't make money with money either.Those words swirled in my brain over and over. Then, one fine day, I decided to test them out. Here's what I did:I was running my own promotions and noticed that the Internet was beginning to unfurl. A little voice in the back of my head told me I had better jump into cyberspace.But I did not have a websit...(related: Web Development)
How To Convert More Sales On Your Website
One of the biggest mistakes that most online retailers make is they do not take into account typical buyer behaviour. The conversion from real world to online provides many benefits to the retailer, but present some real challenges for the customer because their buying decision is made more difficult in an online environment.This means having a website needs to be m...(related: Web Development)
Ten Quick Tests To Check Your Website For Accessibility
The Disability Discrimination Act says that websites must be made accessible to disabled people. So how can you check that your website is up to par? There are a number of basic tests you can make to address some of the main issues that provide a good start in increasing accessibility to your site visitors:1. Check informational images for alternative textPlace the cursor over an informational image, for example, the organisation logo. Does a yellow box appear with a brief, accurate description of the image? For users whose browsers do not support images, this alternative text is what they will see (or hear) in...(related: Web Development)
Your Biggest Mistake When You Create A Website?
--------------------------------Why Should You Create a website?--------------------------------A. What do you want when you create a website?B. What to do to get what you want.--------------------A. What do you want?--------------------1. You may be in a non-profit organisation and want to post forthcoming events on the web. You don't want to have thousands of visitors to the site. But wait - do you want to create a website for new members from the web? I found a new barbershop singer thr...(related: Web Development)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Web Development