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Information and public services for the Island of Jersey

L'înformâtion et les sèrvices publyis pouor I'Île dé Jèrri

Accessibility testing for websites and digital platforms draft guidelines

Draft guidelines

  • These guidelines are draft and currently under review. External testing websites and software listed are recommended but awaiting approval.

Accessibility explained

Accessibility is the concept of whether a product or service can be used by everyone, including people with a range of disabilities, including:

  • auditory
  • cognitive
  • neurological
  • physical
  • speech
  • visual

Our websites, tools, and technologies must be designed and developed so that people with disabilities and those using assistive technologies can use them. It's the law.

Everyone must be able to:

  • perceive
  • understand
  • navigate
  • interact
  • contribute

Assistive technologies are products, equipment, and systems that enhance learning, working, and daily living for people with disabilities. They can include:

  • screen reader
  • braille
  • screen magnifier
  • voice over
  • captions
  • transcripts
  • alternative keyboard or mouse
  • head wand or mouth stick

Discrimination (Disability) (Jersey) Regulations 2018

Discrimination Law 2013

Disability Strategy for Jersey

Video Introduction to Web Accessibility and W3C Standards (4 minutes)

Accessibility is everyone's responsibility

Everyone has a part to play in accessibility testing. For example, the testing process could look something like this:

  • content designers and writers check if content is written in plain language and follows heading structures and images have clear alt text
  • designers check if text colours have enough contrast, fonts are easy-to-read and tab and reading order is included in their design specifications
  • developers check that interactive elements can be used with a screen reader and speech input
  • QA do a final check using WAVE (an evaluation tool that helps make web content more accessible), tabbing through all elements with a keyboard and confirming that web pages work when zoomed 200% or magnified
  • user researchers test accessibility with real people

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are worldwide standards for web content accessibility. They explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.

They're developed through the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world.

Current guidelines: WCAG 2.1

WCAG 2.2 (Scheduled for April 2023)

How to check accessibility

You can use the WCAG 2.1 accessibility checklist on the GOV.UK website to make sure you're meeting WCAG 2.1 to level AA.

Accessibility testing tools

There are lots of accessibility testing tools available to help you make sure you are delivering accessible products and services to our customers, including:

Automated testing

You can use the following automated testing tools to check for WCAG compliance:

Pa11y: command-line accessibility testing interface

Automated Accessibility Testing Tool (AATT)​​

Integrating Tenon

Sitemorse

Browser extensions

These browser extensions highlight errors on screen and explain what is causing the issue and how to fix it:

Axe (Chrome and Firefox)

Easy Accessibility Testing with aXe (3.5 minute video)

WAVE (Chrome and Firefox)

WAVE Help

taba11y (Chrome)

Mobile apps

Use the following when testing mobile apps:

Testing for Accessibility on OS X

Accessibility scanner (Android)

Mobile testing with Access Continuum

Deque has testing tools for Android and iOS that can be used in a Continuous Integration environment or with an Accessibility API:

Android Accessibility

iOS Accessibility

Low vision

When testing for low vision use the WCAG Color contrast checker (Chrome), this lets you select colours on screen and test them. It will tell you if colours meet AA or AAA requirements for regular or large text.

Make sure your font size is at least 16px.

Zoom in 200% and make sure everything reflows so you can read without scrolling.  You should also test using a screen magnifier:

Windows magnifier (7 minute video)

Use Magnifier to make things on the screen easier to see

How to zoom in on your Mac's screen (6 minute video)

Accessibility zoom feature on Mac

Screen readers

A screen reader is a form of assistive technology that makes text and image content into speech or braille output. Screen readers are essential to people who are blind, and are useful to people who are visually impaired, illiterate, or have a learning disability.

You should test your product using a screen reader.

Jaws

JAWS is free to use in 40-minute demo mode. You'll need to restart your computer every 40 minutes to continue using it.

Using JAWS (with Internet Explorer on Windows) to Evaluate Web Accessibility

NVDA

NVDA is free to use. Some key commands to get started are:

  • Ctrl = stop speaking
  • Tab and Shift + Tab = move focus to interactive elements

Arrow up and down = read line by line

Using NVDA (with Firefox on Windows) to Evaluate Web Accessibility

Accessibility Testing with the NVDA Screen reader (20 minute video)

Download NVDA

VoiceOver​

VoiceOver comes with the MacOS. You can turn it on in Settings > Accessibility.

Key commands to get started:

    • VoiceOver modifier key (VO) = Control + Option
    • Ctrl = stop speaking
    • Tab and Shift + Tab = move focus to interactive elements
    • VO + right arrow = read line by line

Using VoiceOver (with Safari on Mac) to Evaluate Web Accessibility

Speech input tests

These videos help you to understand how 'Dragon Naturally Speaking' works. It's the most popular tool for using a computer with your voice.

If you don't want to buy Dragon, you can use Windows Speech Recognition or Mac Dictation instead.

Browsing the web (2 minute video)

Following links in web pages (3 minute video)

Emulating the mouse (3 minute video)

Internet forms (3 minute video)

Keyboard testing

Keyboard accessibility is one of the most important aspects of web accessibility. Many users with motor disabilities rely on a keyboard.

Keyboard accessibility

Writing tools

The Hemingway web app checks the reading level of your writing and makes suggestions on how to simplify the text.

Hemingway

The Headings Map extension shows all headings on a page and their level.

Headings Map (Chrome)

Help with accessibility

If you need any further information about accessibility, contact the Web Services Team.

Email digital@gov.je

Website accessibility on gov.je


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