Web Accessibility Testing (RAMP)
Web Accessibility Testing: Remediation and Accessibility Monitoring Process (RAMP)
Accessibility testing is a combination of automated tests and manual evaluations in order to assess the accessibility of a website. For example, while an automated test can identify if there is an accessibility violation such as missing alternative text for an image, it cannot accurately assess the quality of the alternative text when it is included.
Siteimprove
Siteimprove is the university's preferred service to monitor and scan the university website. Through these scans, accessibility issues can be found and remediated by university staff. These scans are usually only available to the communication specialist or accessibility contact for that specific department or office. To find out if your department is already being scanned, check the Web Inventory and contact your accessibility contact. For more information about the accessibility of your department's site contact the ITS accessibility team at [email protected].
Automated Testing
Automated testing tools help determine if a webpage meets certain accessibility guidelines. However, they only find about 25% of accessibility issues, the remainder needs to be manually assessed. Below are a few tools that can be used to run an automated test.
- WAVE Accessibility Tool - Online web accessibility evaluation tool for testing individual pages.
Manual Testing
Many accessibility standards require human judgment and must be evaluated manually. Below are a few tools and checklists to assist you with manual testing.
- Web Accessibility Toolbar - A web accessibility toolbar for Internet Explorer.
- Web Developer Toolbar - A web developer toolbar for Firefox.
- WebAIM Color Contrast Checker - An online tool for checking foreground and background color contrast.
- Web Accessibility Checklist for Drupal Websites (PDF) - A simple checklist of common accessibility issues for pages hosted on the University's Drupal web platform.
- Web Accessibility Checklist for Non-Drupal Websites (PDF) - A simple checklist of common accessibility issues for pages hosted on the University's web server or by a third-party.