Four-Point Testing Methodology
Our four-point testing starts with individuals with at least one impairment using assistive technology who examine pages and functions of each website and/or mobile application for the guidelines as defined by WCAG 2.1 A/AA. A Subject Matter Expert then reviews each outcome during the second pass testing, answering deferred questions, ensuring accuracy and adding their input as needed. These manual results are then married with the results from our automated testing output, creating two comprehensive reports which are again reviewed for accuracy by a senior programmer, ultimately giving our clients in-depth, real-world results.
WCAG 2.1 Implementation
WCAG 2.1 is a series of measurable Web guidelines published by the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) which explains to developers and authors how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. The guidelines consist of four principles:
- Perceivable: Available through sight, hearing, or touch
- Operable: User interface and navigation must be operable and compatible with keyboard or mouse
- Understandable: User-friendly, easy to comprehend
- Robust: As technologies and user agents evolve, the content needs to remain accessible.
Each principle consists of guideline and checkpoints with multiple items to test. All WCAG 2.1 A/AA Success Criteria are written as testable benchmarks;for objectively determining if content satisfies them. The testing of each page, element and scenario requires a mix of automated and manual (human) testing. BoIA has evolved its testing over the past 19 years to include thousands of specific tests. The manual testing is done by human testers (some of which may have multiple disabilities) who use assistive technology, such as a screen reader, to perform real-life functions emulating visual, audible and mobility disabilities. They also perform site-specific functions and processes, such as creating a membership, registering for a class, ordering a product, filling out a form or gathering specific information.
Organizing the vast number of questions with the varied responses is done through the use of the BoIA custom A11Y® portal. BoIA has developed its custom A11Y® portal for the testers to help streamline and unify the testing process. The portal combines sophisticated automation with human observations. The portal starts by providing the tester with a URL or a scenario to review. The results are then combined with the results of the automated website scan, producing a comprehensive overview of a website's accessibility.
