In today’s article we are going to learn about most commonly used “Accessibility Testing Tools”.
Importance of Accessibility Testing
All application users cannot be alike and the application access cannot be limited to certain categories of users. Every software application is build for wide audiences and it also includes peoples with auditory, visuals, or other cognitive impairments. In order to involve all categories of people with a particular software application access, there is a need for application accessibility testing where application is tested from the point of view of end users where end users comprise of users with or without various cognitive impairments.
It is the governmental record from various countries that one in every five people possesses one or more type of cognitive impairments. Such Governments of many countries are taking initiatives and passing regulations to build software as well as amenities which could support people with various cognitive impairments.
Accessibility testing is a type of exploratory testing which is conducted with the help of people with various cognitive impairments who can provide their accessibility feedback, however we can also achieve full automation in accessibility testing with the help of the following accessibility testing tools.
#1. A11y Machine:
It is an automated accessibility testing tool which is also known as “alym”. It is capable to navigate web pages for any web based application and generate detailed test reports against required specifications such as WCAG 2.
#2. AATT (Automated Accessibility Testing Tools) automation tool:
It is supplied by PayPal. It is a browser-based accessibility testing tool which has plugins that require manually testing of each page at a frequency of one page at a time. AATT allows to add accessibility testing into our existing automation test suite. AATT is a robust testing tool which can be easily integrated with other automation frameworks such as SeLion, NemoJS, and PhantomJS.
#3. Accessibility Evaluation Toolbar:
It is an add-on available to Firefox web browser. It helps web developers to test accessibility features for a particular website.
#4. Apple’s Accessibility APIs:
These APIs supplied by Apple Inc. such as VoiceOver, etc. which can be used to test accessibility of iOS based apps. These APIs can help to enhance user experiences.
#5. Axe – Selenium – Java:
It is Java based accessibility testing tool. It enables automation for web based applications using Junit and Selenium.
#6. Axe – WebDriverJs:
It enables automation engineers to use chainable Axe API for Selenium’s WebDriverJS in order to perform accessibility testing through injections into all frames.
#7. ChromeVox
: It is an extension available to Chrome web browser. It helps to test the speed, security, and versatility of Chrome to visually impaired end users.
#8. Color Contrast Analyzer:
It is an extension which helps to analyse the test color contrast on a particular web page as per the WCAG 2 text color contrast specifications. It can easily analyse gradients as well as CSS attributes on a web page. It provides the selective scanning of a web page section, tab, as well as entire web page for text color contrast against WCAG 2 specifications.
#9. Color Oracle
: It is a color simulator for Mac, Linux, and Windows. It helps to analyse the design suitable for color blind end users by showing in real time to the people with common color vision impairments.
#10. DOM Inspector
: It is an add-on available to Firefox web browser. It helps web developers to test and analyse what all DOM are truly accessible through “accessible tree” mode.
#11. Google’s Accessibility Test Framework for Android (GATF):
GATF is an accessibility testing tool which has in-built testing logic which can easily detect common accessibility issues. It can be easily integrated with other testing frameworks and tools. It uses Android UI constructs.
#12. Microsoft UI Automation tool:
It is an accessibility testing framework developed by Microsoft. It is used to test and automate windows application for user interfaces (UIs) against supplied programmatic information. It can be used to automate most of the UI present on windows desktop by using assistive technology products like screen radar which provide information about the UI accessible to end user. The tool enables tester to build automation test scripts in order to interact with the UI (User Interface).
#13. org:
It has lot of tools which can be used to automate specific type of accessibility testing. It supplies browser based interface as well as command line interface in order to run accessibility testing for sites and web services simultaneously.
#14. Protractor – Accessibility – Plugin:
These plugins enable accessibility testing in the form of audits on existing end to end tests in order to make sure that website is free of common errors.
#15. Tanaguru:
It is an automated accessibility testing tool which is available in two options. First option is open source under AGPL license and second option is paid version which has more features than open source version of Tanaguru. This tool is primarily dedicated to accessibility (a11y) audits.
#16. io:
It is an API (Application Programming Interface) which can be easily integrated with our existing automation framework and coordinate to perform required accessibility testing.
#17. Wave Evaluation Tool:
It is an accessibility testing tool that accepts URL and detects flaws or accessibility issues in the application. It generates the complete report with visual feedback along with summary of alerts and errors.
#18. Web Accessibility Checker:
It is one of oldest tool which is used to perform accessibility testing for ASP.NET based Web application. The tool is fully customizable and extends support for all types of main international accessibility standards and regulations.
#19. Windows SDK Windows:
Windows SDK supplies number of useful accessibility testing tools such as Accessible Event Watcher, AccScope, Inspect, UI Automation Verify and the UI Accessibility Checker.
Conclusion
As governments of various countries are passing regulation and laws which support the accessibility of software and various amenities to all categories of people irrespective of various cognitive impairments, the accessibility testing is going to be must have testing for all software applications in the coming future.
