Accessibility Tools

WAVE provides a straightforward approach to identifying accessibility issues through its website interface. Users must enter a URL or download a Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge extension to receive a comprehensive accessibility evaluation of their web pages. The tool overlays visual indicators to highlight accessibility problems, making it easier to spot issues like redundant titles, improper structural elements, and inadequate color contrast.

The tool also provides detailed explanations of each detected issue, references the specific WCAG guidelines being violated, and explains how different users might be affected. Its code panel precisely pinpoints problem areas in the HTML, enabling quick fixes.

Google Lighthouse provides accessibility testing through multiple platforms, including Chrome Developer Tools, the Lighthouse CLI, PageSpeed Insights, and the Lighthouse Node module. You can also run it as a Chrome extension. The tool performs comprehensive scans of web pages, checking crucial accessibility features like proper button labels, image ALT attributes, page titles, and color contrast ratios between text and background elements.

Beyond accessibility testing, Lighthouse offers a broader analysis of web pages by evaluating SEO optimization, progressive web app compliance, performance metrics, and adherence to web development best practices. This integrated approach helps teams address multiple aspects of web quality simultaneously, making it an efficient choice for comprehensive website evaluation.

The axe Devtools Chrome extension helps identify and fix accessibility issues efficiently. It allows you to scan an entire page or specific components for problems that can be detected through automation, such as color contrast violations and missing ALT attributes.

The extension is powered by axe-core, an open-source JavaScript library maintained by Deque, which follows the latest WCAG guidelines. Another plus is that axe DevTools focuses on accurate, developer-friendly reporting to integrate accessibility testing seamlessly into the development workflow.

The WCAG Color Contrast Checker Chrome extension offers precise color contrast analysis directly in the browser environment. This tool evaluates contrast ratios between text elements and their backgrounds, providing immediate feedback on WCAG compliance levels. Users can instantly verify if their color combinations meet AA or AAA standards for different text sizes.

A standout feature of this extension is its color vision deficiency simulator, which demonstrates how content appears to users with various types of color blindness, helping product teams make informed adjustments to improve content visibility.

Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool (PEAT) is a downloadable software that identifies seizure risks in digital content by analyzing animations, videos, and flashing elements. After installation, this specialized tool evaluates content against established guidelines for photosensitive epilepsy triggers, checking for potentially harmful flash rates, transitions, and color combinations.

PEAT helps teams ensure their digital products are safe for users with photosensitive epilepsy by detecting sequences that could trigger seizures. The tool provides detailed reports highlighting specific frames or sequences that need modification, making it easier to create inclusive content that meets accessibility standards.

The Harding Test was designed to analyze videos for flashing and patterns that can cause seizures in people with epilepsy. The original online Harding Test is a paid service that offers two types of tests — instant automated and manual. If your video doesn't pass the test, the service offers to make subtle edits to the footage to correct it. It also offers other services like removal of product placement and offensive language, videotape duplication, encoding, and transcoding.

The Able Figma plugin provides precise color contrast analysis by enabling direct comparison between any two selected colors within a Figma design file. The tool calculates contrast ratios and displays immediate visual feedback about WCAG compliance levels.

Beyond basic contrast checking, Able generates previews showing how color combinations appear with different contrast levels. A standout feature of Able is its comprehensive color vision deficiency simulator, which demonstrates how selected colors appear to users with various types of color blindness. The plugin enhances decision-making by displaying the percentage of users affected by each type of color deficiency, offering quantitative data about the impact of color choices on the user base.

Stark's plugin available on Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD is a powerful tool designed to make accessibility easier for product teams. It provides a suite of features that help ensure product designs are inclusive and accessible to a broader audience. One of its core features is the Contrast Checker, which evaluates the contrast ratio between text and background elements. It provides suggestions for color adjustments to meet WCAG AA or AAA standards, helping you improve readability and accessibility.

Another key feature is the Vision Simulator, which allows you to simulate how their designs appear to users with various types of vision impairments, including color blindness and blurred vision. This helps you understand the impact of their choices and make informed decisions to improve accessibility.

Additionally, Stark offers features like Landmarks and Focus Order, which help ensure designs are navigable by screen readers, and Alt-Text Annotations, which provide suggestions for writing descriptive alt text for images. With Stark, you can create more inclusive products with ease, without requiring deep technical knowledge of accessibility standards.

VoiceOver provides built-in screen reading capabilities across Apple's ecosystem, offering a practical way to test digital content accessibility. You can use this tool to read on-screen text aloud while providing audio descriptions of your interface elements, enabling thorough testing of how visually impaired users experience your product.

Navigating VoiceOver through touchscreen, trackpad, or keyboard inputs helps identify potential accessibility barriers in website navigation and content structure. The tool's integration with standard keyboard shortcuts (like Command C and Command X) alongside VoiceOver commands streamlines the testing process, making it an efficient choice for accessibility verification on Apple devices.

VoiceOver is a part of Apple's Accessibility suite. For Windows, you can test your site through a screen reader using NV Access.