QA Tester

As QA Tester, you’re responsible for checking the finished product is actually accessible. This means running automated tests, manually checking the pages against the WCAG criteria, and testing usability with assistive technology.

We have published detailed guidance on how to do accessibility testing.

Things to consider as a Quality Assurance Tester

Automated accessibility testing

When doing automated accessibility testing, you can either run browser plugins against each page or you can build the tools into your acceptance tests.

They will very quickly help you identify common fails. The will not find everything, we know they will actually find less than 50% of all known issues, but they will give you a good foundation to start your manual testing from. Read more about the limitations of automated accessibility testing tools.

We have published guidance on:

Manual accessibility testing

Automated accessibility testing is good to find obvious errors, but it won’t find everything. So you need to make sure you manually check each page before it is signed off as done.

These manual checks need to cover all 55 of the WCAG 2.2 A and AA criteria.

You can use a browser plugin called Accessibility Insights by Microsoft to do an accessibility assessment. It will guide you through the process and generate a HTML report at the end.

We have published guidance on manual testing using tools.

Assistive technology testing

Each page needs to be tested with assistive technology devices. These are tools such as screen readers, voice controllers and screen magnifiers.

We have published guidance on:

Definition of done

We can’t deploy code which is not accessible, otherwise we are breaking the law. So if it’s not accessible it’s not done. As part of your definition of done, the service should be checked for accessibility using both automated and manual tests.

An example of accessibility considerations in a definition of done:

  • Automated accessibility tests passing in the acceptance tests
  • Manual accessibility tests passed using Accessibility Insights
  • Manually checked usability using a screen reader
  • Manually checked usability using a screen magnifier
  • Manually checked usability using speech recognition
  • Accessibility statement updated

Recording testing evidence

It is important to keep evidence of all your accessibility testing. This means at any point you have an understanding of how accessible your service is. It also means you know when you are ready for a full audit, it is unlikely you will find any major issues when doing so.