We want our web app to be effective, efficient, and satisfying for the user, but a lot of times we don’t think about the user experience for people with disabilities, including people with age-related impairment. How can automated a11y tests and manual test help us make our interface better?

When we develop a new web application, we often put a lot of work on the design, on making it beautiful and usable. In other words, we want our web app to be effective, efficient, and satisfying for the user. But a lot of times we don’t think about the user experience for people with disabilities, including people with age-related impairments.

Web accessibility (a11y ) means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with websites and tools, and that they can contribute equally without barriers.” (Source: W3C - Web Accessibility Initiative). Our role as frontend and web developers is to create clear interfaces to make people understand and care about data, independently of their disabilities or impairments, but what we, developers, often forget is to ensure that the code we write follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and the only way to achieve that is testing, either manual or automated.

Automated web a11y tests can free up our QA team from manual testing every part of our application, but, they can’t automatically make our site accessible. We should use automated a11y tests as one step of a larger testing process.

Hi, my name is Adrián Bolonio. I'm a Google Developer Expert in Web Technologies currently working as an Accessibility Software Engineering at GitHub as part of a talented, diverse, and motivated team that will work on making GitHub and the Internet a better and more accessible place for everyone. When I’m not at the office I enjoy a good read, working my way through any delicious recipe, and indulging my love for travelling to new places.