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Is there a site or software/tools I (as a front end developer) can use to test and grade accessibility & usability on my websites while I build?

I doubt there will be anything as thorough as it being tested by a UX expert, but what I'm thinking of is to prevent human err's, for example: leaving out certain attributes from html tags etc or maybe highlighting area's of inaccessibility or poor usability that i am unaware of.

I assume there must be software for this, so, what ones do you use/rate? and where can I find them?

Cheers!

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 You might want to look at uxexchange.com/questions/20/… :-) – adrianh Oct 14 at 12:34

6 Answers

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Hi Wayne

As a start i'd suggest:

  • Crank your doctype to strict
  • validate HTML and accessibility after every change (using the firefox developer toolbar helps with this immensely)

Create a code library of common elements that are valid, usable and accessible (perhaps with aria tags etc.) and reuse.

Then once a day verify your site against a more holistic accessibility checker like aDesigner (i'm not affiliated with it). You'll soon learn how to optimise your coding behaviour.

After awhile you'll get sick of seeing the same validation errors (mistakes we all make, all the time) that you'll preempt them in your code.

All the best.

Matt

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for accessibility i would work with a tool... see list here: http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/webarticle26

for usability testing i would recommend testing your mock ups or wireframes if the feature is not programmed yet. it also saves you from programming stuff that is already flawed during the mock up phase. for big projects i always test with wire frames before we give it to programming. just saves so much money.

let me know if you need help with that.

v

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thats a handy article to have, thank you :) +1 – Wayne Austin Jan 4 at 11:18
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The slightly awkward thing about accessibility testing is that not all checks on the relevant guidelines can be checked automatically. Most accessibility checking tools will throw errors when code is invalid or required attributes are missing (and that's good and those issues are generally easily fixed), but it's the warnings that generally need most attention and most human intervention.

Things like:

  • Colour contrast
  • Graceful degrading of a layout
  • Using colour to convey meaning
  • Using images to convey meaning
  • etc.

These are the sorts of things that will maybe require a little more than can be provided by automated accessibility checking tools.

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For usability we've developed a tool called Loop11 (www.Loop11.com) that can help to assess the usability of websites. It's not an automated tool; you have to create a project (a bit like an online survey).

It's a great tool for web developers to use during development of a website to test whether users are generally able to navigate through the designs.

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Tony - just had a play with Loop11, very impressive. I would like to see a evaluation report though at the end of the Demo. To get the full picture. – Matt Goddard♦ Oct 15 at 10:04
Hi Matt, If you sign up to Loop11, in every new account is a sample project we ran on the Yahoo website with 224 participants. It shows you exactly what you get from a reporting and analysis perspective. Regards, – Toby Biddle Oct 15 at 22:00
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Hey, Toby. I was looking at your site, and was wondering about some of its specific accessibility capabilities?

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What were you wondering about, G? – JeromeR♦ Dec 11 at 4:40
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Automated accessibility testing tools do exist, such as:

...but to be honest they can't entirely be relied upon. There's plenty of things a script just can't check - is that image purely presentational, how well written is your copy, what does that flash element actually do, etc.

Furthermore, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are exactly that - Guidelines. Obeying each and every requirement may not be the best idea in every instance. You have to judge that for yourself - a computer can't do it for you!

Tools can be useful in some situations though, for instance working out if the contrast ratio of your text and background is sufficient, the following tool will calculate the ratio and let you know if it complies to WCAG guidelines: http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/contrast-analyser.html#download

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