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Explain in detail Accessibility Testing.

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Cadi Nelson
Explain in detail Accessibility Testing.

What is Accessibility Testing?

A software testing performed to ensure that the application being tested is usable by people with disabilities like hearing, color blindness, old age, and other disadvantaged groups. It is a subset of Usability Testing. Some of the best examples of these software includes:

  • Speech Recognition Software
  • Screen Reader Software
  • Screen Magnification Software
  • Special keyboard

In simple words, accessibility testing is a subset of usability testing that considers both users with and without disabilities. It mainly focuses on testing software, mobile apps, and websites. According to sources, 15 percent of the world population has some kind of disability, and three percent of those people have significant disabilities. Therefore, accessibility testing becomes critical. Because it’s the only way through which we can make sure that computers and smart devices can be used by everyone, regardless of age or ability. We don’t want anyone to miss out on the digital era.

We live in an era where digital components are a priority and must be easily accessible by physically disabled individuals despite their respective handicaps.

According to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WACG)

A website or mobile app is developed when you have a team of best professionals forming different teams at hand. Each one must know about Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WACG), compliant to those and expectations of end customers.

A website requires to be responsive featuring nice effects such as counters, motion elements or images with parallax effects, a clean design, and to represent the brand whereas when it comes to a mobile app, it must add value giving the user something extra than the website.

Before you start designing a mobile app or a website, certain things must be taken into consideration such as:

  1. Can a screen reader identify all of the elements?
  2. Do all the pictures have descriptions?
  3. Do all the videos have subtitles?
  4. Can I deactivate the parallax effect?
  5. Do all of the icons have labels?
  6. Are all the elements tagged correctly?
  7. Can I navigate to every page using just the keyboard?

There are certain principles on which the WCAG are based on:

  • Perceivable information and user interface- It covers everything that includes text alternatives for non-text content, captions and other alternatives for multimedia, different presentations of content. This principle emphasizes on content must be easier to read as well as hear. Every image this includes icons, button, and graphics, video, charts need to be appropriately tagged and described for a screen reader or a non-visual browser to show information properly. For videos, they must have subtitles as well as audio narrations for crucial content. Never think of images with parallax effector flashing at certain intervals which can cause nausea and epileptic attacks.
  • Operable user interface and navigation- A website needs to be navigable and interactive thoroughly. Apart from this the hierarchy and structure need to be a priority here to make it easier to navigate through the menu and the related pages. Another issue worth addressing in this section are the login timeouts or the re-authentication without any data loss, or text that disappears after the ideal “reading time.” Professionals you need to address in this session all the login timeouts or the re-authentication. And make sure everything is done without any kind of data loss. Responsive design is a must-have right now, mostly because of smartphones and tablets, but it also needs to look nice and not break if it’s magnified instead of made smaller.
  • Understandable information and user interface- There are times when we see certain things obvious to do but think hard are they really meant for software? I am talking about text-to-speech software. Henceforth, the language on the website needs to be very clear. Also, using the same structure, and system of where information or descriptions are on different pages, can help users learn how to navigate the website. Forms and other interaction can be difficult and confusing for some people and consequently lead to errors.
  • Robust content and reliable interpretation- This principle is about compatibility with older, newer, and coming accessible technology. The markup language is the safest way to keep technology compatible with different browsers, assistive technology.
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