Kickstart Your Website Accessibility Program: The Power and Benefits of Automated Accessibility Testing

As digital accessibility becomes a critical priority, businesses must ensure their websites and applications are inclusive for all users. While manual testing is important, automated accessibility testing is a great starting point for any organization’s accessibility journey. It offers a fast, scalable, and cost-effective solution for identifying and addressing accessibility barriers, empowering teams to improve user experience while ensuring compliance with accessibility standards.

In this blog, we’ll explore the core features, benefits, and best practices of automated accessibility testing, and how it serves as the foundation for a successful website accessibility program.

Why Automated Website Accessibility Testing?

Automated accessibility testing has revolutionized digital accessibility by making it more accessible and manageable for organizations of all sizes. It allows for quick, comprehensive scans of content and consistently identifies common accessibility issues across websites, applications, and other digital assets. As technology advances and accessibility standards evolve, automated tools are increasingly becoming a staple in the digital development process.

Here’s why it’s phenomenal: companies are shifting from focusing purely on profit to creating “products for people.” User satisfaction drives revenue, and automated accessibility testing helps ensure that all users, regardless of ability, can access your content seamlessly. Though automated testing can only catch about 30% of accessibility violations, it is an essential part of any long term accessibility strategy.

Features of Automated Accessibility Testing

1. Comprehensive Scans: Automated tools analyze your website’s code to detect potential accessibility issues like screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, color contrast, and missing alt text.
2. Batch Testing: For large websites or complex applications, automated tools allow you to test multiple pages simultaneously, identifying accessibility problems across your entire platform in one pass.
3. Integration with Development Workflows: Automated testing tools can seamlessly integrate into development processes, running accessibility checks during each stage. This early detection of issues prevents costly fixes later on.
4. Standards Compliance: Automated tools are built around WCAG, the global standard for accessibility, giving you detailed insights into how well your content complies and what areas need improvement.
5. Continuous Monitoring: You can schedule regular scans to catch new issues introduced by code, design and content changes, ensuring your website remains accessible even as content and functionality evolve.

5 Core Benefits of Automated Accessibility Testing

1. Efficiency. Automated testing dramatically reduces the time and effort required to identify accessibility issues compared to manual testing. Software tools can quickly scan a site, pinpointing potential accessibility problems and allowing developers to focus on resolving them instead of spending hours manually checking each element. Integrating automated testing into your workflow ensures that accessibility is considered from the start of development, ultimately improving user experience and compliance with accessibility regulations.
2. Consistency. Automated tools ensure consistent results by following predefined rules and ensuring that digital content is evaluated uniformly across platforms and devices. This consistency allows for easy retesting, ensuring that new content or updates continue to meet accessibility standards. A website regularly scanned by automated tools is less likely to have accessibility issues, as potential problems can be caught early and addressed before they affect users.
3. Comprehensive Coverage. Unlike manual testing, which often focuses on specific sections of a site, automated testing covers everything—from text and images to forms and interactive elements. Automated tools catch common accessibility issues like color contrast, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility, providing comprehensive insights into how well your site performs for users with different abilities.
4. Early Detection. Implementing automated accessibility testing early in the development process allows for the early detection and resolution of accessibility issues. By identifying problems before launch, you reduce the risk of costly post-launch fixes while ensuring a smoother user experience for everyone. Early detection also fosters a culture of accessibility awareness, embedding accessibility considerations throughout your development cycle.
5. Detailed Documentation and Reporting. Automated testing generates detailed reports that document all identified accessibility issues along with suggested remediation steps. These reports provide a roadmap for developers to prioritize and address accessibility problems. In addition, they serve as a record of your compliance efforts which is useful for audits and tracking progress toward accessibility goals.

When to Automate Accessibility Testing

Automated testing should be considered when your project scales up or involves multiple web pages or complex applications. Or if you update your website frequently. It’s ideal to incorporate automation early in the development process and continue using it throughout, especially when frequent updates or content changes are expected. Continuous testing ensures that your platform remains accessible and compliant with standards like WCAG and Section 508.

Best Practices for Automated Accessibility Testing

1. Understand Accessibility Guidelines: Automated tools will flag issues, but your team must understand accessibility standards to interpret and prioritize results correctly. Educating your team ensures they can make meaningful fixes and contribute to a culture of accessibility awareness.
2. Choose the Right Tools: Not all tools are created equal. Choose automated tools that align with your specific needs and have strong support to help with troubleshooting. Access Design Studio’s Accessibility SiteScanner is one tool that can help with your needs.
3. Run Regular Scans: Schedule regular accessibility scans to catch new issues introduced by updates. Incorporating automated testing into your development cycle ensures ongoing compliance and reduces the risk of regressions.
4. Customize Your Tests: Configure your automated tool to match your specific goals and standards, setting severity levels and rules to focus on high-impact issues. Our Accessibility SiteScanner can support with this as well.
5. Verify Results Manually: Automated tools can’t catch everything. They identify about 30% of accessibility violations. Complement regular automated checks with occasional manual testing to assure your site’s compliance.

Conclusion

Automating your web accessibility testing and reporting streamlines the process, providing quick feedback and making it easily scalable across large websites and applications. By running these tests early in the design and development stages, you save time, money, and resources by addressing accessibility issues before they become harder to fix.

Automated reports not only help your legal and compliance teams monitor adherence to accessibility standards, but also empower your developers to prioritize and resolve critical issues. Additionally, leadership gains a clear view of the organization’s compliance status, enabling proactive management of accessibility goals.

Whether you’re identifying bugs, monitoring compliance, or ensuring leadership alignment, automated testing offers an essential tool for improving your digital accessibility. Combined with manual testing and managed services, it forms a comprehensive strategy for creating inclusive digital experiences.

Access Design Studio is here to support you as you start your accessibility journey. Start by getting a free automated scan of one page of your site using our Accessibility PageScan tool.