Beyond the scan
Manual website accessibility testing checklist
After an automated scan, try the tasks a visitor needs to complete. This checklist helps you record practical follow-up work: keyboard use, forms, zoom, content, and assistive-technology checks. It is a first review, not a complete WCAG audit.
Choose a task and record the starting point
For a small business, start with “find a service and send an enquiry.” For an agency or development team, choose a changed component in a real page: open a menu, complete a form, or dismiss a dialog. Write down the URL, browser, viewport, login state, extension version, and date.
Run the scanner first and keep its report. Then close the extension popup so your manual checks exercise the webpage itself.
Check the experience
- Keyboard: use Tab and Shift+Tab. Check that focus is visible, follows a useful order, reaches controls, and does not become trapped. Operate links and buttons from the keyboard.
- Forms: check labels, required-field instructions, and error messages. Submit an incomplete form and confirm you can identify and correct each problem.
- Zoom: enlarge text and zoom the browser. Look for clipped content, overlapping controls, and information that becomes unavailable.
- Content: review page titles, heading order, meaningful link text, and whether image alternatives convey the image’s purpose.
- Media: check that captions and transcripts communicate the information people need, and that playback controls are usable.
- Screen reader: with a tester who knows the tool, check navigation, control names and states, errors, and completion of the chosen task.
For detailed beginner instructions, use W3C WAI’s Easy Checks. Those checks also have limits; successful spot checks do not establish full accessibility.
Turn an observation into a useful issue
Record the action that failed, what happened, and what should happen. “Accessibility is broken” leaves a developer guessing. “After closing the enquiry dialog, keyboard focus disappears and Tab starts at the top of the page” identifies a reproducible behavior.
Retest the task, not just the score
After a developer makes a fix, repeat the exact steps. If a shared form field changed, also try another form using it. Keep unresolved manual observations in the work list even if the automated finding has cleared.
Testers with disabilities can reveal barriers that a checklist misses. For a fuller evaluation, plan representative page and task coverage and involve people with the relevant testing experience. W3C explains how to involve users in evaluation.