Checking for Accessibility Using Automatic and Manual Testing

Checking for accessibility is a critical step to ensure content meets the required digital accessibility standards and works for everyone. Before publishing or sharing content, always check it by using both automatic checkers and manually reviewing with human judgement and assistive technologies.

Overview 

This article is for faculty, staff, and students who create or share digital content. It explains why accessibility checking is required and how to use automated tools and manual testing to ensure compliance with digital accessibility standards. 

Checking is Required 

Checking for accessibility is a critical step to ensure content meets the required digital accessibility standards and works for everyone. Before publishing or sharing content, always check it by using both automatic checkers and manually reviewing with human judgment and assistive technologies. This step is important because critical issues such as broken links, incorrect heading structure, and missing alternative text can occur even in well-designed documents. These errors create barriers for individuals using assistive technologies like screen readers, making content difficult or impossible to access.  

Accessibility Checker Tools 

Automated checker tools are a helpful starting point to catch common issues before diving into a full manual check. Many tools include built-in accessibility checkers, and there are also standalone tools available that help flag issues like missing alt text, poor contrast, incorrect reading order, and other problems. Some recommended accessibility checkers for use at Minnesota State University, Mankato, are listed below. Note: Automated tools can make mistakes. Only a human can determine true accessibility. 

• YuJa Panorama: Available in D2L and as a stand-alone tool, YuJa will check multiple document formats. *Do not use YuJa alone for testing web-facing materials. 
• Microsoft Accessibility Checker: Available in Microsoft apps like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook.
• Adobe Pro PDF Accessibility Checker: Available in the Adobe Creative Cloud suite and available to all MSU employees. PDFs intended for the web should use this checker, as well as GrackleGo or PAC (listed below).
• WAVE browser extension: The WAVE Chrome, Firefox, and Edge extensions allow you to evaluate web content for accessibility issues directly within your browser.
• GrackleGo: A free online PDF/UA validator that works with smartphones, PCs, Macs, and tablets.
• PAC: PDF accessibility checker for Windows devices.

Manual Testing for Accessibility 

Manual testing is always required. This means reviewing content the way real users experience it, without relying solely on automated tools. 

How to Perform Manual Testing 

1. Test with a screen reader: Turn on VoiceOver (iOS), TalkBack (Android), Microsoft Narrator (Windows), ChromeVOX (Chromebook), or install NVDA (Windows). Close your eyes and navigate your favorite app by listening. Does the content read in a logical order? Are there images or features that are not read aloud because they are not labeled properly? 
   • A WebAIM screen reader survey shows that over 70% of users rely on mobile screen readers daily. 
2. Increase text size to maximum in settings: Does your layout adjust gracefully, or do you need to scroll horizontally? Do words overlap and buttons disappear?  
   • WCAG criterion 1.4.4: Resize text  
3. Test color contrast outdoors: Step into bright sunlight. Can you still read the text? 
   • Poor contrast is one of the most common accessibility issues.
4. Switch your device to grayscale: Do instructions still make sense without color cues (“Click the green button” won’t work). 
5. Try captions on videos: Turn the sound off and captions on. Are the captions accurate (e.g., punctuation, capitalization, spelling), synced, and complete?  
   • 80% of caption users are not deaf or hard of hearing. 
6. Enable Dark Mode: Is the content still clear, or does information disappear into the background? 
7. Try high-contrast mode (Android) or Smart Invert (iOS): Does the app break visually? 
8. Test with one hand only: Can you still reach all the main actions or buttons (especially on large phones)? 
9. Rotate the device (portrait to landscape): Does the app adapt, or do important features vanish? 
10. Check hit targets: Can you tap small buttons without making mistakes? 

More Resources 

• A Beginner’s Guide to Manual Accessibility Testing  

Still Need Help?

Creative Production offers help with document formatting, design, and redesign if needed. Please note, Creative Production cannot ensure accessibility for content created by other users. They may need to re-create a document to ensure accessibility if you choose to use their services. Costs apply. Submit a ticket to request Creative Production services 

IT Solutions primarily supports digital accessibility for academic and course-related materials including document accessibility, captioning and transcription services. Support for other content may be available if time allows, with costs applying to non-course materials. Submit a ticket to request IT Solutions services