You may have noticed in Accessibility Checker reports, we never say that a page is 100% accessible. Rather, we say that a page, post, or even a full website has 100% passed checks.
Accessibility Checker uses automated scanning to help you to identify if common accessibility issues are present on your website. Automated tools are great for catching some accessibility issues and are a critical part of achieving and maintaining an accessible website. However, not all accessibility problems can be identified by an automated scanner.
As noted here and further explained in our help article explaining how to manually test your website for accessibility, accessibility testing by a human is essential because automated tests alone won’t find everything.
Items That Cannot Be Checked for Automatically
Despite what other accessibility scanners or toolbars might tell you, there is no way for any automated tool or plugin to ensure your website is fully accessible. Even with so-called AI, there is no credible evidence to suggest any automated solution has more than ~40% coverage of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Examples of accessibility issues that require a human testing component:
- Determining if an image provides unique value to the content on the page or is redundant/decorative based on the surrounding text.
- Whether or not the way the interface or content reads out on a screen reader is complete, informative, and helpful to the user, without wasting their time.
- Verifying that audio descriptions capture essential visual cues and emotional subtext without interfering with critical dialogue.
- Ensuring the keyboard navigation path follows a logical human workflow based on the structure and ordering of the content and user interface.
- Validating that simplified summaries are functionally equivalent and truly reduce cognitive load without losing critical nuances in the full-length content.
- Confirming correct speaker identification in captions and the inclusion of non-speech information to ensure an equivalent experience.
- Whether a user can access helpful information consistently and in the same manner across an entire website, or across a multi-step user journey.
- And much, much more…
These are just some of the items that cannot be tested by an automated tool. If you review the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, you’ll see many other examples of success criteria that require a human’s judgment in order to ensure that they have been met.
As much as we wish that Accessibility Checker could tell you instantly whether or not your website is fully accessible, it’s just not possible. The best we can do is tell you if any problems (errors), or items needing review (warnings) exist on the website. This is is why we say “100% Passed Checks” and not “100% Accessible.”
How to Achieve a 100% Accessible Website
True accessibility can only be achieved through a combination of automated scans and manual review, and manually fixing any identified problems either within the content editor or in your website’s code.
It’s crucial to note that no AI solution or automated tool can make your website accessible. Only you, your team, or an accessibility consultant/firm/developer can make your website accessible through real effort, conscious decision making, and fixes at the root of the problem.
If you want to make your website 100% accessible, it is possible and Accessibility Checker is a vital part of achieving and maintaining that goal. Use Accessibility Checker to test for baseline issues and strive to have every page or post on your website say “100% Passed Tests.” That, in tandem with your manual testing efforts, will get you well on the way to truly accessible website.