Web Accessibility Audit
Mycarebudget.org
TIMEFRAME 3 Weeks
AdvIsor Antonella Nonnis, Inclusive Design MODULE
CLIENT Mycarebudget.org
TOOLS HTML, NVDA SCREEN READER, WAVE EVALUATION TOOL, Chromelens
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this report was to conduct a web accessibility review including conformance analysis of the mycarebudget.org website with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) up to conformance level AA, to highlight key accessibility issues, and to suggest improvements for the issues identified.
BACKGROUND
Mycarebudget.org enables its users to independently plan for recruiting personal assistants. In United Kingdom alone, a third of the total social care users are people with disabilities between the ages of 18-65 (Papworth, 2018). Seen in this light, the potential target audience of the website includes users who may have disabilities or may face diminishing abilities due to ageing. It is therefore crucial to acknowledge accessibility-related challenges on the website and to prioritise due implementation for the platform to be truly enabling for its users.
METHODOLOGY
The accessibility review of Mycarebudget.org was conducted for four web pages, namely Home page, What’s New, Just Starting Out, and Create Account between 29th November 2021 and 10th December 2021 in two stages:
Preliminary Check
➔ The content and functionality of the web pages were broadly reviewed against preliminary checks prescribed by Web Accessibility Initiative “First Review of Accessibility”. This involved inspection of all pages for visual consistency and legibility, use of keyboard to test for keyboard-only navigation, and use of screen reader (NVDA) and native windows screen magnifier for testing efficacy of content and navigation when accessed via assistive technology.
➔ Additional passes were made for all pages using a combination of screen reader, and Chromelens plugin on Chrome browser. The plugin was used to stimulate partial and complete blindness on each webpage and to record focus-order. Contrast Checker was employed to ascertain legibility of text, images and other components.
Conformance Analysis
➔ Page-specific as well as cross-page examination was conducted using automated Wave tool (plugin for Chrome) for identification of elements in potential conflict with WCAG guidelines.
➔ Additional passes for all pages were made using the screen reader and keyboard to cross-check all guidelines and validate findings from preliminary check and those by Wave tool.
➔ The markup for all pages was examined to identify cause of gaps.
➔ A criteria for prioritisation of issues to be fixed has been proposed based on potential benefit to user and ease of implementation.
