QA / Testers – Quick Guide

Mission Statement

An accessibility tester’s role is to ensure a website, application, or digital content is usable by people with disabilities, including those with vision, hearing, motor, or cognitive impairments. This is achieved through a combination of automated and manual testing, focusing on identifying and addressing accessibility barriers that might hinder user experience.

https://www.w3.org/WAI/planning/arrm/roles

1. Core Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities

• Validate full keyboard operability
• Confirm focus order, focus visibility, and focus management
• Validate screen reader announcements for all core flows
• Verify semantic structure (landmarks, headings, labels)
• Test color contrast and responsive behavior
• Ensure consistent behavior of interactive components
• QA / Testers – Quick Guide
• If you are missing something, please feel free

Fast Checklist (Top 7 Before Release)

• Tab order follows logical flow
• All interactive elements have clear focus states
• Labels match visible text; icon buttons have accessible names
• Screen reader announces page title, headings, errors, updates
• Modals trap focus & return to trigger
• Errors appear with text, not only color
• Contrast is compliant (4.5:1 for text)

Critical How- To

• Keyboard Test Plan:
  • Navigate entire flow using Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Space, Arrow Keys
• Screen Reader Smoke Test:
  • macOS: VoiceOver Cmd + F5
  • Windows: NVDA Ctrl + Alt + N
    Validate: page title → navigation → form labels → announcements
• Focus Order & DOM Order:
  • Use browser DevTools → “Accessibility” tree
  • Validate reading and focus order match expected design

2. Tools for Quick Self- Testing

General Design Accessibility

• WAVE Tool (Chrome Plugin)
• Axe DevTools
• ARC Toolkit
• NVDA (Screen Reader Windows)
• Apple VoiceOver Guide (Screen Reader)
• WebAim WCAG Checklist for Accessibility
• A11yCasts explains How to do an Accessibility Check
• IBM Checklist
• Web Accessibility Checklists

3. Keyboard Navigation & Screen Reader

Keyboard Navigation & Focus

A11yCasts What is focus?

A11yCasts explains Keyboard Navigation Part 1

A11yCasts explains Keyboard Navigation Part 2

A11yCasts explains Headings and Landmarks

Screen Reader

Shortcuts Screen Reader (VoiceOver) Desktop

VoiceOver (macOS) Official guide & shortcuts

• Command + F5: Start/ End VoiceOver
• Control: Stop reading
• Control + Option + Command + H: Next heading
• Control + Option + Command + J: Next form field
• Control + Option + U – opens: VoiceOver- Menue In Menue Jump between sections & landmarks, headings, links, form fields, etc.

A11yCasts explains Screen reader basics VoiceOver MacOS

A11yCasts explains VoiceOver Mobile iOS

Talkback (Adroid Screenreader)

A11yCasts explains TalkBack Mobile

Windows Screenreader

• NVDA (Windows) NVDA Developer Guide
• JAWS JAWS keyboard commands

4. Materials & Trainings

EdX W3Cx

4 weeks (4-5 hours per week) Training, $99 Certificate

EdX – W3Cx: Introduction to Web Accessibility

Deque University

Web Accessibility $250

Full Access $450

Deque University