Manual vs Automated WCAG Testing: Which One Should You Use?

Some websites have text too light and buttons that won’t click. Someone using a screen reader may feel like they are fighting back with such websites. This type of websites needs WCAG compliance. 

WCAG is Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This is a framework set for website accessibility. Organizations use this to design and test their website. This accessibility checkup of a website is done in two ways, manual and automatic WCAG testing. 

A computer program can scan for errors quickly. A manual audit might be more detailed. So which is the right choice? Let’s find out what your website really needs.

What is manual WCAG accessibility test?

Manual testing is when you rely on a human tester instead of a computer. You hire an expert of WCAG guidelines they carefully assess your website and find problem areas.

Manual audit specialists will check the following things on your website:

Is your website content easily accessible if you do not have a mouse?

Are all the images have meaningful descriptive or alt text?

Are headings structured and easy to understand?

Are buttons easily visible and easy to understand?

A manual tester might look at a pop-up blocking the screen reader and tell you that it is against WCAG guidelines. A form field with a label that does not make any sense like “field 1” “field 2”. A computer might not catch the sense part because the field has a label. Only human intervention can tell you that it needs sense to make it WCAG compliant.

What is automated WCAG testing?

When you use a software to find the accessibility errors in your website, it is called automated testing. There are many tools for this task. Some are paid and some are free.

When you run these codes, you can quickly get a report for the following kinds of issues:

Low color contrast

No alt text

Heading order mistakes

Empty links

Automatic tools are fast and you can scan hundreds of web pages in minutes. They are good for basic issues. 

But, software can only scan 30% of the accessibility errors. A software scan cannot focus on meaning, logic and context kinds of errors. For these you will need manual testers.

How Are They Different?

Feature

Manual Testing

Automated Testing

Who tests it

Humans

Software or tool

Speed

Slower

Much faster

Accuracy

Very high

Limited (30–40%)

Cost

Higher

Lower

Checks usability

Yes

No

Best for

Real experience

Quick scanning

Someone actually walks through your website in manual testing and automated testing is like you are running a spell-check. Both are useful but they serve different purposes.

Which testing method you should use for WCAG certification?

You will need for WCAG certification. As said earlier, software testing is fast and good for catching basic errors. However, it is only 30% correct so you can’t rely on it for total WCAG compliance. Therefore, follow automated testing with manual testing to ensure your site works for everyone.

You can follow this testing plan total WCAG compliance:

Pick a trusted WCAG testing tool and start with an automated test.

Fix the errors you find with the compliance checker.

Hire an accessibility expert and run a manual audit.

Follow the remediation feedback and achieve total compliance .

Conclusion

You should use both automated and manual testing to ensure that your website follows all WCAG guidelines. Automated testing saves time and manual testing brings context to the audit.

If you need audit help or need WCAG certification then consult ADACP. They can guide you with a free website accessibility test and thorough manual audits.