Testing tools

Automated testing actually catches only about 25% of accessibility errors, so a high score on an automated testing tool does not mean that the website is completely accessible. Many other elements require manual testing to decide whether a feature makes sense in context, or is consistent with other pages on your site.

UC developers should set automated testing tools to analyze sites for the WCAG 2.0 level AA standards.

Some Options for Testing Tools

• Siteimprove (commercial): Siteimprove is a cloud service that enables you to systematically review your sites for accessibility. UC personnel have access to Siteimprove through a systemwide license.
• Functional Accessibility Evaluator (free): This tool from the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign allows the user to enter a URL and get a quick accessibility evaluation of that one page. Users can opt to create a free account to evaluate multiple pages at a time and generate and save reports. FAE tests HTML and ARIA techniques.
• SortSite (commercial): Generates site-wide reports for accessibility, broken links, device compatibility, SEO, privacy, usability, and validation.
• WAVE (free): This toolbar provides a mechanism for running WAVE reports directly within Chrome and Firefox. WAVE is a free online tool from WebAIM.