Are you a website owner striving to make your site more accessible? If so, you’re already ahead of the curve, recognizing the critical role of web accessibility in our digital age. So far, you might have relied on automated tools for testing web accessibility. While these are useful, they have limitations. That’s where manual testing and remediation come into play.

But what is manual testing? If you’ve heard of the term but aren’t quite sure what it means, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered. This article will give you an in-depth understanding of manual audits and how to use them to make your site more inclusive. Let’s dive in!

The Current Limits of Automation

Automated tools have made testing websites for accessibility issues a breeze, detecting common problems quickly and efficiently. However, they can’t replicate the intuition, judgment, and understanding of real human users. While automated tools can detect clear-cut technical issues, they miss out on nuances only a trained professional can spot.

In fact, 70% of accessibility issues require a human review to correctly interpret standards and navigate gray areas outside automation’s grasp. The limited scope of even the most advanced automation will leave many compliance issues unresolved and your company at risk for a frivolous ADA lawsuit. That’s because web accessibility isn’t just about ticking boxes or passing tests; it’s about creating an enjoyable user experience for everyone. And this is where manual testing excels.

What is Manual Testing and Remediation?

Manual testing and remediation is a hands-on approach to web accessibility. Accessibility experts will navigate through your site, examining each element to ensure it meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

It’s a meticulous process that requires experts to use a variety of browsers and assistive technologies, such as screen readers or voice recognition software, to help diagnose subtle hindrances to accessibility. This thorough testing method often helps to find accessibility issues caused by code that technically conforms to WCAG. However, these issues will cause unexpected problems for some or all users with disabilities. 

Once the manual audit is complete, the experts will deliver a report providing recommendations for remediation. A developer will then use that report to analyze and fix the site’s source code.

Why Choose Manual Testing?

It’s the human touch! Computers are great for many things, but they can’t replicate the intuition, judgment, and understanding of real human users. While automated tools can detect clear-cut technical issues, they miss out on nuances only a trained professional can spot. Some of these include:

Functionality

Imagine trying to navigate your site without a mouse. Sounds challenging, right? Yet, this is a reality for many users. Some people may use only a keyboard or switch devices to navigate the web due to physical impairments or personal preference. 

Manual audits involve navigating your website using only a keyboard to ensure that all interactive content and functionalities are reachable and usable. Basic keyboard controls include the Tab and arrow keys to navigate through links, buttons, and form fields and Enter to select. Your site should allow users to skip to main content areas or navigation menus with keyboard shortcuts to prevent ‘Tab fatigue.’

While automated audits can detect some critical features for functionality, they are not able to test for the following:

• Contains focus outlines, highlighting focused elements such as form fields or button
• Navigating header menus and links 
• Navigating through one and or multiple pages 
• Keyboard traps (Users are unable to move away from a selected element)

Screen Reader Compatibility

Screen readers are assistive tools that convert on-screen text into spoken words or braille output. Low-vision users most commonly utilize this tool, and it can be challenging to replicate through automated testing. 

During manual testing, however, professionals can use screen readers to navigate the website to ensure that all visual information is read aloud accurately, allowing low-vision users to interact effectively with all elements. This includes images, links, form fields, buttons, and more. 

For example, if you have an image on your site, that’s essential for understanding the content. Automated tools might recognize the existence of the image and its associated text description. Still, they won’t be able to judge if the alt text accurately represents the image’s content. 

Content Review

The content of your website is its bread and butter. Without your content functioning as intended, you could leave your users scratching their heads. 

While it’s not difficult for an automated scanner to detect if pages have missing content, such as alt text or page header, it can’t notice if they are used in the correct context or if it makes sense for the user. Utilizing a manual audit will ensure that content is readable and makes sense not just for the user but for search engines, which can directly lead to more business opportunities for a company.

A content review includes ensuring text is clear and readable, images have alternative text descriptions (also known as ‘alt text’), and information is presented logically and in understandable order.

When a Manual Audit is Needed

A manual audit must be conducted on a website instead of just an automated scan. Automated audits can’t account for the nuances of human consciousness, and it’s essential that all users have the same experience regardless of their disability. For people with disabilities, navigating online is a personalized and delicate process, as should the auditing process.

Facing an ADA Web Accessibility Lawsuit

Under more severe circumstances, if you’re facing a lawsuit, you must fix any issues cited in the complaint. The biggest problem with these complaints is that they’re vague, and this is usually done on purpose for two reasons:

• Easier to justify the lawsuit
• Allows enough wiggle room to allow plaintiffs to file a copycat lawsuit or sue again for a different issue, claiming that the problems were never fixed.

So getting a manual audit and taking your website through some digital remediation is significantly less than the cost of a lawsuit because not only do you have to pay for the suit, but you’ll also be paying legal fees and your chances of actually getting out of a lawsuit are slim to none as 95% of them are settled outside court. 

What Components Make A Good Manual Audit?

All audits are not created equal, but a good audit report will be very detailed and thorough. It starts with the scope of the audit in conjunction with the detail and clarity in which it is conveyed to you and your web developer. 

Your audit serves as a blueprint that needs to be followed step-by-step to fix the problems on your website and make it accessible. So having a report that is too broad can cause you to miss important details or, if they’re too vague, you could still be missing vital information. 

In every report that we conduct at 216digital, we include the steps needed to recreate non-compliant issues, including:

1. A detailed list of issues: The report will specify what WCAG criteria were violated, their location on your website, screenshots and code snippets for clarity, and how severe they are.
2. Recommendations for remediation: The report will offer practical solutions to remediate issues, the urgency to fix them, and the link to exact WCAG guidelines
3. Compliance level: It should indicate how compliant your website is with established accessibility standards, like the WCAG.
4. User-focused insights: It should include feedback from users with disabilities, offering a real-world perspective on how accessible your website is.
5. Ongoing Web Accessibility: Suggest tools or practices for maintaining accessibility in the future.

We use an Excel Spreadsheet with multiple tabs detailing these issues comprehensively to ensure that you or a developer can clearly understand the problems and methodically go through the audit to implement the required changes.

What You Should Look for in an Accessibility Partner

When choosing an accessibility partner, you should first look for expertise and experience. Website accessibility is both a confusing and highly litigious process that requires experts to guide clients through and resolve these problems. 

A good measurement of whether you have a qualified accessibility partner is by asking:

• How many audits have they done?
• What are the professional credentials?
• How many years have they been in business? 
• What is their process to find non-compliant issues?
• Do they offer remediation services or guidance for identified issues?
• Do they provide aftercare training or tools to maintain accessibility in the future?

Every website is different, so having professionals that are thorough and will check every non-compliant finding is critical. 

Bring Your Site to a New Level of Accessibility

Enhancing your website’s accessibility is an ongoing process. While automation is an excellent starting point, manual testing, and remediation are indispensable for comprehensive web accessibility. By going beyond the capabilities of automated tools, you’ll create a site that meets legal requirements and a platform that truly resonates with your entire audience, opening doors to even greater user engagement and broader markets. So, make the move and bring your site to a new level of accessibility today with 216digital!

At 216digital, we can help develop a strategy to integrate WCAG 2.1 compliance into your development roadmap on your terms. To learn more about how the ADA experts at 216digital can help build an ADA WCAG 2.1 compliance strategy to achieve ongoing, real-world accessibility on your terms, schedule an ADA Strategy Briefing.