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Accessibility for All: the WCAG Checklist App

Posted on 
December 14, 2016
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Accessibility testing is essential to ensure equal access to information for all people, regardless of ability. For developers, designers, managers, and even the casual researcher, outlining and understanding accessibility guidelines can seem like an overwhelming task. Emerge Interactive’s WCAG Checklist App makes checking for compliance during design and development simple and easy within a beautifully designed app experience.

Designing and building products with accessibility in mind is incredibly important. 1 in 5 people in the U.S. live with a disability, and many rely on technology to navigate the challenges of everyday life in a world that’s not currently designed for them (but this app can make it easy for you to help start to change that!)

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THE WCAG CHECKLIST APP

Emerge’s app begins by outlining the three tiers of accessibility compliance - Levels A, AA, and AAA. The user selects a degree of accessibility to check their product against.The app then separates WCAG 2.0 guidelines into WCAG’s four categories:

  • PERCEIVABLE | Is the product easy to use for users with varying sensory capabilities, including physical and mental?  
  • OPERABLE | The user should be able to navigate and use the product easily, regardless of how they access it.
  • UNDERSTANDABLE | Users should be able to understand both the content of the product and how to use it.  
  • ROBUST | Can the product be successfully processed by third-party assistive technology?

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Within each category, the app includes a brief description of the guideline plus suggestions on what to do to achieve compliance, links for more information, and even adds some helpful tips! The app user can evaluate each guideline and mark its status as Passed, Ongoing, Inapplicable, or Failed to keep track throughout the design and development process. After completing items within the checklist, users can switch between tiers to view their compliance at other levels. The user can also view all evaluated steps within a status category, which is helpful when looking at the product as a whole and finding areas where it needs work. Lastly, there’s an option to export results via email.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, the WCAG Checklist App is a great tool for anyone from designers and developers to researchers who just want to learn more about accessibility. We especially appreciated the clear, simple descriptions of each guideline as well as the Tips provided. For those not familiar with WCAG 2.0 guidelines, it can be challenging to dive right in - but the WCAG Checklist App is a user-friendly way to learn about how to improve the internet for all and help ensure that products meet recognized standards. There’s no option to add your own notes within the app, so for more detailed reviews, users will have to keep track elsewhere. But for a quick check of your product or just to get started with designing for accessibility, look no further. Finally, it will also be important to test for accessibility with actual assistive tech and human testers to ensure your efforts to meet WCAG 2.0 guidelines have been successful. Look for the WCAG Checklist as a free app on Google Play and in the App Store and check out the website for more information. By using the latest techniques and tools in accessibility testing, Plus QA can help identify further potential product issues that might alienate users or obstruct access to essential features. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you contribute to an accessible and universal web.