Accessibility testing

Expert testing

The College’s ICT Division provides an accessibility review service which commissions a specialist accessibility testing agency to carry out full in person assessments of websites and apps. This is an essential service to use for in-depth assessments of websites and apps, as well as new suppliers and products. There is a charge for this service.

Expert accessibility testing is available on request through the Ask website.

Automated testing

There are many free tools that can help you assess how accessible your website is. These are great for quickly and cheaply assessing your sites

Automated testing cannot replace the in-depth testing carried out by an expert. We recommend using these tools for initial assessments and using the expert testing provided by ICT when you are sure your website meets the required standards, when you are launching new sites, or for assessing new suppliers and products.

WAVE Browser Extensions

The WAVE Chrome and Firefox extensions allows you to evaluate web content for accessibility issues directly within Chrome and Firefox browsers.

Lighthouse

For a quick check of your site Lighthouse is a tool for identifying problems with your site and is built into the Chrome browser.

Accessibility insights

This is a more detailed checker which runs as an extension for Chrome or standalone Windows app.

The A11Y Project

This is a nice overview of the kinds of accessibility tests available, and why they are important.

Further help

Contact your Faculty Web Officer.