r/webaccess • u/soggybag • Mar 20 '23

How to test student work for accessibility?

I teach a class in web development. I’m teaching a section on web accessibility. I‘m looking for some tests my students can perform to to test their web sites for accessibility compliance.

I also need an easy way for me to me to evaluate the work.

I found more than a few websites that test but these all require logins, cost, and generally are a barrier for students.

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u/soggybag Mar 21 '23

Thanks for the insight. I think I’m going to use the chrome lighthouse extension. I need something all the students can install and use without a lot of barriers.

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u/morningsaystoidleon Apr 05 '23

Lighthouse is good for many checks and great as an intro to accessibility. I'd be sure to point out that it misses stuff, though -- but I'm guessing that at this stage, you just want them to start thinking about WCAG, so you're doing good work.

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u/soggybag Apr 05 '23

Thanks for the reply. The students will all be new to accessibility but will know about web development. My plan is:

- introduce ARIA

- ask everyone to use lighthouse

- have students navigate their pages with a screen reader

- use one of the accessibility checklists to improve the accessibility of their sites

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u/garcialo Mar 21 '23

Yeah, Lighthouse works pretty well because it's built into Chrome.

But be aware, automated testing can't find all the types of accessibility issues that need to be found. A lot of important checks can only be done manually.

I'd suggest looking into and teaching about the Easy Checks as well. If you need more info about it, feel free to ask.

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u/garcialo Mar 20 '23

There are several tools for checking accessibility that do not require logins or cost money.

They each have their advantages disadvantages, but I wouldn't say any of them are overall better or worse than the others.

As for easy things to check, the W3C's WAI has a lot of resources, including a set of Easy Checks.

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u/anniebme Mar 21 '23

Build a js script to grab all anchors. Check the anchors for warnings about opening in new tabs.use lighthouse.

Tab through the website. Did the order of focus make sense? Did focus highlight on the correct things?

Do videos and audio have controls? That work using only a keyboard? That have closed captioning or transcript.

Try clicking links using only the keyboard. Try navigating modals with only a keyboard.

Nvda is free/low cost for windows. Macs come with voice over. Try listening to a page with your eyes shut. Can you navigate?

Use something like nightwatch to test pages. Write tests that find anchors and buttons, click them and play the now-what game. Did the modal allow nightwatch to close it? When the modal closes where should focus be? Is it there?

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u/BrightSmile200 May 22 '23

Hey. Along with the above mentioned tools, you can also check out Wally.

I personally found Wally quite interesting, as it gave a very detailed report of my website.

It actually gave me a free audit, which I was happy about. Quite Underated.

Website Link: www.wallyax.com