Improve Your Website's Accessibility with LoopStudio's Audits
Our experienced team can help you identify and overcome any accessibility barriers, improving the user experience for all visitors. We evaluate your website’s design, code, content and provide recommendations for improvement.
What is an accessibility audit?
Digital accessibility audits evaluate a website or software’s compliance with accessibility standards. It identifies and prioritizes barriers for people with disabilities. It involves manual and automated testing and a review of documentation. Results are used to create an accessibility improvement plan.
Why is website accessibility important?
By making your website accessible, you can guarantee that all users can access your content, products, and services and that you comply with laws and regulations that require websites to be accessible. It ensures that people with disabilities can access your website and execute the actions for which the product was created.
Accessibility benefits your business by expanding your reach to a wider audience, improving user experience, and avoiding potential legal issues.
When should I run a digital accessibility audit of my digital product?
Performing a web accessibility audit early is crucial for easier analysis and change. Accessibility aligns the team towards goals and is a driver of conversion. It helps with comprehension and content understanding. Inclusive design promotes social equality and can increase conversion rates. Unfortunately, due to a lack of awareness of its importance, most accessibility audits are performed once the website is live. This is not ideal and makes it harder for everyone to implement significant recommended changes once the audit is done.
Accessibility
audit steps
This are the standard steps for an accessibility audit:
Define the scope of the audit, identify the stakeholders, and gather all relevant documentation, such as design and development files, testing scripts, and accessibility standards.
Create an inventory of all web pages, software applications, or digital products to be audited, including information about their purpose, content, and functionality.
Conduct manual testing to identify and evaluate potential accessibility barriers, such as missing alt text, improper use of headings, and missing keyboard accessibility.
Run automated accessibility testing tools to identify common accessibility issues, such as missing alternative text and missing form labels.
Conduct user testing with people with disabilities to evaluate the actual experience of using the digital product and identify any barriers that were not identified during manual and automated testing.
Compile the results of the accessibility audit into a report, which includes an overview of the accessibility issues found, a priority list of recommended fixes, and suggestions for improving the accessibility of the digital product.
Work with the development team to implement the recommended accessibility fixes and improve the overall accessibility of the digital product.
Work with the development team to implement the recommended accessibility fixes and improve the overall accessibility of the digital product.
When should I run a digital accessibility audit of my digital product?
Performing a web accessibility audit early is crucial for easier analysis and change. Accessibility aligns the team towards goals and is a driver of conversion. It helps with comprehension and content understanding. Inclusive design promotes social equality and can increase conversion rates. Unfortunately, due to a lack of awareness of its importance, most accessibility audits are performed once the website is live. This is not ideal and makes it harder for everyone to implement significant recommended changes once the audit is done.
Our Accessibility audit process
First, we identify the main functionality and the most representative flows of the digital product. This involves evaluating the main functions to have them clear when performing the analysis as we will give them priority. This does not mean that we won’t audit all the pages of the site, but rather that we will analyze the main ones more deeply so that users can perform the functions for which the site was made, avoiding frustration.
Second step:
Next, we will analyze the screens using the WCAG criteria. This means that we will perform a manual testing where we will document the test cases in the different environments and the results obtained from them. This includes:
- - Audio tests
- - Keyboard tests
- - Color contrast tests
- - Logical order tests associated with design and code quality.
- - Semantic testing with tools that allow us to draw conclusions
- - Tests with screen readers using desktop and mobile iOS and Android respectively.
- - Size tests using the native browser's zoom and other parameters.
Third step:
Next, we will test the product on different devices: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. We must know all the rules of HTML5 and respect the text hierarchies in terms of headers and content. We’ll focus on these key areas:
- - Navigation
- - Design & Layout
- - Path to Purchase
- - Brand & Identity
- - Functionality & Performance
- - Content
- - Accessibility
Final feedback:
We’ll give you a full report on your site plus some basic design ideas and recommendations that can be solved with little development efforts. We know it’s risky, so we focus on making these recommendations detailed and thorough but as simple as possible. The report will include the following:
- - A list of tasks in order of importance
- - An estimation of the efforts each task would take
- - A clear roadmap on how to implement the suggested modifications
At LoopStudio, we’re committed to create inclusive and user-friendly websites for everyone.
FAQs
What are the benefits of getting an accessibility audit for my website?
Benefits of an accessibility audit for your website:
- - Improves user experience for all visitors, including those with disabilities
- - Ensures legal compliance with accessibility regulations
- - Expands audience to include people with disabilities
- - Improves search engine optimization (SEO)
- - Enhances brand reputation and demonstrates commitment to social responsibility.
How do I know if my website is accessible?
Here are some basic tips to make your website accessible for people with cognitive impairments:
- - Explain why the fields being asked for are required.
- - Add the alt tags to images and subtitles to videos.
- - Avoid using animations in form fields.
- - Use clear and truly helpful error messages to correct problems.
- - Avoid using color as the only means of communication, always detail.
- - Use alternative methods such as reCAPTCHA.
- - Avoid time limits for making a purchase.
- - Do not require users to create an account to access content or make a payment.
What are some common accessibility barriers on websites?
Here are some examples:
- - Images without alternative text
- - Inaccessible forms
- - Lack of keyboard navigation
- - Inaccessible multimedia content
- - Poor color contrast
- - Inaccessible PDFs or documents
- - Confusing or poorly designed navigation
How long does an accessibility audit take?
Considering it’s a super delicate and meticulous process, it would take at least 300 hours for a designer to complete an accessibility audit. However, it depends on the type of audit, the extension of your website, the team you decide to work with, and many more factors.
Can I do an accessibility audit myself, or do I need a professional?
Hiring professionals for a comprehensive accessibility audit is recommended over relying solely on testing tools. Experts have a deep understanding of web accessibility standards and assistive technologies, providing a thorough and accurate evaluation. Automated testing tools may miss nuanced issues that require human judgment. For the best user experience, choose a human-led accessibility audit.
What happens after an accessibility audit is completed?
After an accessibility audit is completed, we’ll provide a report with the findings and recommendations for improving accessibility on your website. This report will generally include a list of all issues that were identified, how severe each issue is and how can we fix it.
We work to exceed our client’s expectations. That’s why we’re constantly reviewing and improving our work processes. This mindset is what enables us to deliver the best results possible.
We seek the utmost potential. We look to be a home for all individuals who want to grow professionally and personally, and aim to support a healthy work-life balance.
We strive to be exceptional in all regards. We take ownership and initiative to ensure that success is not only our goal but our responsibility. We aim to be proactive and stay one step ahead of the curve, so we’re better prepared for what lurks around the corner.
More than just service providers. We want our partners and customers to feel safe in our hands, and to build long-lasting and strong relationships based on mutual understanding and reliability.
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