FREE! Ten Quick Tests to Check your Website for Accessibility

Accessibility - it's a big deal, but how do you get a quick overview of the subject? Well try here for starters, as Trenton Moss from the UK based webcredible consultancy outlines ten helpful tests for checking the accessibility of your website.

Trenton Moss is the driving force behind webcredible; he knows an awful lot about accessibility and the Disability Discrimination Act.

6. Check your website in the Lynx browser

The Lynx browser is a text-only browser and doesn't support many of the features that other browsers such as Internet Explorer have. You can check how your site looks in this browser with the Lynx Viewer.

If your website makes sense and can be navigated through the Lynx browser, then it'll be fulfilling many of the web accessibility guidelines.

7. Check you can access all areas of your website without the use of a mouse

Can you navigate through your website using just tab, shift-tab and return? If not, then neither can keyboard- and voice-only users.

8. Check there's a site map

Can you find a site map? If not, then neither can people who are lost on your website.

9. Ensure link text makes sense out of context

Visually impaired Internet users often browse websites by tabbing from one link to the next. Does all the link text on your website make sense out of context? 'Click here' and 'more' are two common examples of non-descriptive link text that can cause a website to suffer poor accessibility.

10. Check your web pages with an automated program

Two accessibility programs available for free on the Internet are Bobby and Wave. They're unable to provide you with all the information that you need, as some accessibility checks must be done by humans, but they can tell you some of the areas where your site might be going wrong.