How to Do Accessibility Testing: Brief Step-by-Step Guidelines

Software accessibility is not optional. Inclusive digital experiences are required by governments. And they aren’t just about compliance. Accessibility also means better business performance. With digitally inclusive websites, platforms, and applications, you can improve overall usability. You can reach more users. And you can build a vaster audience and drive more revenue through empathy and convenience.

This guide will walk you through the practical implementation of accessibility testing in your company. It’s rather a schematic step-by-step instruction on how to do accessibility testing manually than a strategy ready to use as it is. Nevertheless, it’ll become a solid foundation for your team and a good addition to your QA framework.

Step 1. Understanding Accessibility Standards

Before diving into testing, it’s essential to prepare the proper theoretical background. In this case, your team must get familiar with existing directives and legislation in your target areas. There are some international standards and principles and country-specific regulations.

An example of the primer is Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and its POUR approach. This abbreviation suggests that all software must be:

• Perceivable. Users must be able to perceive all information and interface elements.
• Operable. Users must be able to operate the interface successfully.
• Understandable. Information and operations must be comprehensible.
• Robust. Content must work with current and future technologies.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 is the gold standard for digital accessibility. Your team can rely on it while working with software solutions from around the world. WCAG offers a tiered approach with three conformance levels:

• Level A. The minimum level of compliance, addressing the most critical barriers.
• Level AA. The standard target for most organizations, balancing accessibility with implementation feasibility.
• Level AAA. The highest level, providing enhanced accessibility for specific user groups.

Most organizations aim for AA compliance as a practical goal. This level addresses significant barriers while remaining technically and economically feasible to implement.

So, while WCAG provides technical guidelines, there are additional legal frameworks that mandate accessibility. A few examples of those include:

• USA: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
• EU: European Accessibility Act (EAA) and EN 301 549.
• UK: Equality Act 2010 and The Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018.
• Canada. Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

To manage accessibility testing for global organizations, we recommend creating a compliance matrix. The majority of requirements across markets will coincide. Some will enhance the experience, and we can’t recall cases of conflicts in accessibility requirements.

Step 2. Preparing Accessibility Testing Strategy

Success in software QA requires a structured approach. Accessibility testing is not an exception. Random, one-off tests won’t deliver sustainable results. Hence, make sure to invest enough time in planning and preparing comprehensive documentation. It all will require the following activities.

2.1. Defining Scope and Goals

Begin by clearly defining what you’re testing and what you aim to achieve. To be more specific:

1. Determine testing targets. Which digital properties need assessment: your public website, customer portal, mobile apps, internal tools, or something else?
2. Set clear compliance targets. Which level of WCAG compliance are you aiming for?
3. Prioritize critical user journeys. Focus initial efforts on the paths most traveled by your users. Are they able to create accounts, complete purchases, or submit support requests?
4. Establish measurable goals. Rather than vague aspirations like “improve accessibility,” set specific targets such as “Reduce critical accessibility issues by 80% within 6 months” or “Achieve WCAG 2.1 AA compliance for our checkout process by Q3.”
5. Define baseline metrics. You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Conduct initial assessments to understand your starting point.

A well-defined scope prevents the common mistake of trying to fix everything at once, which often leads to frustration and abandoned efforts. Instead, start with high-impact areas and expand systematically.

2.2. Building the Your Accessibility Testing Team

Being a part of quality assurance, accessibility is a shared responsibility. Yet, you’ll do better with specialized expertise—professional QA engineers—at its core. The most effective accessibility QA specialists combine several key competencies:

• Technical testing expertise that allows them to evaluate both simple and complex accessibility requirements across different platforms and technologies.
• Structured methodology for test planning, execution, and documentation that ensures consistent coverage.
• Analytical mindset that helps identify patterns and root causes rather than just individual symptoms.
• Cross-functional communication skills essential for articulating technical issues to designers and developers.

If you already have in-house QA engineers, running accessibility testing shouldn’t be a problem for them—with some prior research, of course. Alternatively, you can look into outsourced accessibility testing services. Teams like QA Madness bring hands-on expertise while offloading your dedicated team (or becoming one if needed).

Speaking of the broader accessibility team ecosystem, it’s best to educate other members of the product team about accessibility. It’ll enable you to plan products with digital inclusivity in mind, reducing the amount of issues from the start and avoiding rework. Other roles to involve are the following:

• Designers who incorporate accessibility considerations into wireframes and visual designs and prevent issues before they reach development. QA engineers can support designers by reviewing designs for potential accessibility concerns and providing early feedback.
• Developers who implement accessible code and address identified issues. QA engineers work closely with development teams, helping them understand testing results and verify fixes.
• Product managers who prioritize accessibility requirements and allocate necessary resources. QA insights about accessibility impact help inform these prioritization decisions.
• User researchers who facilitate testing with people with disabilities. QA engineers often collaborate on test planning and execution for these sessions.
• Legal and compliance teams who understand regulatory requirements. QA testing documentation provides evidence of due diligence for compliance purposes.

Still, a QA engineer brings unique value to accessibility assurance and plays a central role in it. Having one in the team is a must.

2.3. Incorporating Accessibility Throughout Development Lifecycle

Accessibility testing is most effective when run continuously. In other words, it shouldn’t be a one-time check. It’s more effective to integrate it into your development process with the most critical compatibility aspects checked regularly—in each sprint, before big updates, or quarterly. Here’s how it fits into different phases of an SDLC.

Design phase:

• Creating accessible design patterns and component libraries.
• Performing accessibility reviews of wireframes and prototypes.
• Defining color palettes that meet contrast requirements.
• Documenting accessibility specifications in design systems.

Development phase:

• Implement accessibility linting in code editors to catch issues in real-time.
• Include accessibility checks in code reviews.
• Create developer documentation for common accessibility patterns.
• Build automated accessibility testing into CI/CD pipelines.

QA phase:

• Include accessibility test cases for key components.
• Train QA teams on basic accessibility testing techniques.
• Validate fixes for previously identified issues.
• Conduct specialized testing for complex interfaces.

Post-launch:

• Schedule regular audits to maintain compliance.
• Monitor user feedback for accessibility issues.
• Plan for iterative improvements based on findings.
• Stay updated on evolving standards and requirements.

Together, these activities will help you catch issues early or even prevent them with proper quality engineering during requirement design and coding. If you don’t have a sufficient load for ongoing testing, you can rely on professional manual testing services for one-time inspection or repeated checks.

Step 3. Setting Up Testing Environments

Accessibility testing requires proper tooling and environments that reflect diverse user experiences. To set up the technical part of the testing infrastructure, you’ll need to manage the following:

1. Enable or install screen readers (each operating system offers a native solution, but you can test popular add-ons).
2. Select and install manual accessibility testing tools for quick visual feedback, etc.
3. Create testing profiles with various settings enabled (e.g., high contrast mode, increased text size, forced colors, reduced motion preferences, etc.).
4. Configure mobile devices for accessibility testing (e.g., set up a keyboard and switch control, test with various display settings, etc.).
5. Set up a framework and tools for automated testing if you decide to add automation.

Though not mandatory, it may be helpful to create testing matrices. Thus, you’ll have a structured testing plan to easier combine and track parameters for comprehensive coverage. You can include to mix and match the following:

• Disability types and user needs.
• Technical standards and levels.
• Device/browser combinations.
• Assistive technology pairings.
• Feature prioritization.
• Testing frequency.

For example, your matrix might specify testing critical user journeys with JAWS on Chrome and Firefox, while testing secondary features with just one screen reader.

If you have enough time, consider developing resources to support consistent and effective testing in the future. In addition to writing proper checklists and/or test cases, you can create:

• Component library. Document accessibility requirements for each UI component.
• Issue examples. Compile a library of common issues and their solutions.
• Testing scripts. Develop step-by-step testing procedures for complex features.

These materials help standardize testing approaches across teams and reduce the learning curve for new team members.

Step 4. Writing Test Documentation

Proper documentation forms the backbone of effective accessibility testing. You can use either checklists or more detailed test cases for manual accessibility testing. Judging from experience, there’s no need to write both from the start (unless you’re sure you’ll add test automation, which requires test cases to transform them into scripts).

What’s important in both cases is specifics and the focus on accessibility. Cover each critical user journey with specific accessibility considerations. For example, rather than simply “Test the login form,” write “Verify the login form is fully operable using keyboard navigation only” and “Confirm all form errors are announced by screen readers.”

Develop structured checklists based on applicable standards that are relevant to you, but always customize them for your specific application. Effective checklists break down complex requirements into testable components.

For example, verify high-level requirements, such as “Text maintains 4.5:1 contrast ratio against the background” and “Text remains readable when zoomed to 200%.” Meanwhile, transform “Ensure content is readable” into specific checks.

Documentation should include environmental specifications and precise steps to reproduce any issues found. When documenting problems, describe both technical violations and their real-world impact. For example:

• Technical violation: Missing form label on payment amount field—WCAG 1.3.1.
• Impact: Prevents screen reader users from understanding what information to enter.

This approach helps developers understand both what to fix and why it matters, leading to more effective remediation and better long-term accessibility practices.

Bonus: Accessibility Testing Checklist Example

As mentioned above, your manual accessibility testing checklist will be unique and based on both software particularities and standards/regulations you must adhere to. Below, we’ll share a few ideas on what to include in this checklist.

Keyboard navigation:

• All interactive elements are focusable with the Tab key.
• Focus order follows a logical sequence.
• Focus indicators are clearly visible on all interactive elements.
• All functionality is operable with the keyboard alone.
• No keyboard traps exist.
• Shortcut keys don’t conflict with assistive technology.
• Skip navigation links are available and functional.

Screen reader compatibility:

• Page title accurately describes page content.
• Heading structure is logical and properly nested (H1 → H6).
• Images have appropriate alt text (or are marked as decorative).
• Links have descriptive text that makes sense out of context.
• Form controls have properly associated labels.
• Error messages are programmatically associated with their fields.
• Dynamic content changes are announced to screen readers.
• Tables have proper headers and structure.

Visual design:

• Text contrast meets WCAG AA standards (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text).
• Content is readable when zoomed to 200%.
• Information is not conveyed by color alone.
• Interface is usable at various screen sizes and orientations.
• Text can be resized without loss of content or function.
• Focus indicators have sufficient contrast (3:1 against adjacent colors).
• Motion/animation can be paused, stopped, or hidden.
• Flashing content doesn’t flash more than 3 times per second.

Multimedia:

• Videos have synchronized captions.
• Audio content has transcripts.
• Video with important visual content has audio descriptions.
• Media players are keyboard accessible.
• Volume controls are available and operable by keyboard.
• Media doesn’t autoplay or can be easily paused.

Mobile-specific considerations:

• All functionality works in both portrait and landscape orientations.
• Pinch-to-zoom is not disabled.
• Complex gestures have simple alternatives.
• Touch targets have sufficient spacing.
• Buttons and links are labeled consistently across devices.
• Content reflows appropriately on mobile screens.
• Hover/mouseover information is accessible on touch devices.

Content readability:

• Instructions don’t rely solely on sensory characteristics.
• Abbreviations and unusual terms are explained.
• Page includes proper page regions and landmarks.
• Long content has proper subheadings and structure.
• Icons and graphical elements have text equivalents.

Most likely, all of these checks will be relevant to your case. However, the list is not exhaustive (or anywhere close to exhaustive). Keep in mind that the actual document should have much vaster coverage, even for simple websites and applications.

You can also check out the website accessibility testing checklist our team shared earlier to learn more (as well as more detailed explanations and illustrations).

Step 5. Testing the Software for Accessibility

Human judgment remains essential for digital inclusivity assurance. For example, manual testing might reveal that while your form fields are technically accessible, the order in which a screen reader navigates them creates a confusing experience—something automated tests wouldn’t catch.

So, at this stage, you basically go through your checklist and execute all the items on it. Mark successful ones as “Passed.” Meanwhile, all issues and defects should come with more than a “Failed” tag. Make sure to include detailed bug reports with overviews, steps to reproduce, and multimedia—screenshots or screen recordings displaying the bug.

Manual vs Automated Accessibility Testing

Accessibility testing can be automated, but that’s a story for a separate article (which, luckily, we’ve already written).

Automated Accessibility Testing: Exposing the Myth & Supercharging Your Product

To sum it up briefly. When a symphony orchestra performs, both the precision of the instruments and the nuance of human interpretation create the complete experience. Accessibility testing follows a similar principle. Automated tools scan with algorithmic precision, while manual testing adds the irreplaceable human element of understanding context, intention, and user experience.

If you decide to go for automation, make sure to strengthen your team accordingly. Hire an AQA (Automated Quality Assurance) engineer or a General QA engineer to bring the essential expertise. If you already have one, give them a few days to research digital accessibility to understand the ins and outs of the automated approach in this specific case.

Step 6. Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

Accessibility manual testing isn’t a one-time fix. Thus, you’ll need to establish systems for ongoing monitoring and improvement.

One practical way to track progress is with meaningful metrics. Those can include:

• Issue counts. Monitor the number and severity of issues over time.
• Compliance percentage. Track what portion of your content meets standards.
• Fix rates. Measure how quickly issues are resolved once identified.
• User satisfaction. Gather feedback from users with disabilities.

Effective dashboards might show trend lines for critical issues, highlighting progress and regression areas. For instance, a quarterly report might show that keyboard accessibility issues have decreased by 60% while color contrast issues remain prevalent.

Another significant practice is establishing proper feedback mechanisms—you’ll need those with or without metrics tracking. Ideally, they should involve not just the product team and stakeholders but your audience as well. You can create channels for ongoing accessibility feedback:

• Accessible contact options. Ensure users can report issues in their preferred format.
• User testing panels. Maintain relationships with users with disabilities for regular feedback.
• Support ticket tagging. Identify accessibility-related customer service requests.
• Social listening. Monitor mentions of accessibility issues on social media.

This will help you discover issues that may occasionally slip to production—which, by the way, is normal. Software testing cannot grant 100% coverage, although it aims to get as close as possible and normally accounts for all business-critical issues before deployment.

Finally, continuously improve your accessibility practices with:

• Regular retrospectives. Review what’s working and what needs adjustment.
• Root cause analysis. Identify why issues are occurring, not just what the issues are.
• Standards updates. Revise internal guidelines as external standards evolve.
• Tool evaluation. Regularly assess whether your tooling meets current needs.

For example, a retrospective might reveal that accessibility issues spike after major releases, indicating a need for better pre-release testing or developer training.

And don’t forget that accessibility requirements evolve. Keep up with the legislation and updates to stay informed. Pay attention to the deadlines (governments announce those, leaving businesses enough time to adapt) to avoid business and legal issues.

To Sum Up

Implementing accessibility testing is an ongoing commitment to creating inclusive digital experiences. By building accessibility into your processes from the beginning, you’ll not only reduce legal risks but also create better products for everyone. Start where you are, use what you have, and improve incrementally.

And remember one important thing: accessibility benefits all users.

The clear structure that helps screen reader users also improves SEO. The keyboard access that’s essential for people with motor disabilities also helps power users. The plain language that supports people with cognitive disabilities makes content more understandable for everyone. Subtitles on videos for users with hearing impairments make your content accessible for users on public transport or in noisy environments.

Now, you know how to perform accessibility testing. By adapting the process outlined in this guide to your case, you’ll be well on your way to creating digital experiences that truly work for all users.