Accessibility Testing for Websites – Manual vs. Automated
                     Accessibility Testing for Websites – Manual vs. 
Automated
Jenny Knight
Writes for smb-corner.com 
Small and Medium Business Corner & 
SMB Corner
There are mainly two different methods used for testing accessibility of a 
web page. One of them is the manual accessibility testing. This can be done 
by using a browser and a text editor. The other one is of course by using 
different types of automated testing tools that are designed to evaluate 
web accessibility. While there are specialists who prefer one method over 
the other, both of them have their own benefits and therefore should not 
be disregarded. There are also those who strongly advocate combining 
both these methods in order to obtain better results within a lesser amount 
of time.
Manual Accessibility Testing
Manual testing is actually the traditional method and is still preferred by 
many due to the safety and efficacy that it promises. However, even though 
it helps to determine accessibility of a particular web page, accuracy of the 
evaluation results depends solely on the knowledge and experience of the 
tester. This process involves a complete understanding of client side code. 
The code can be easily viewed in most of the web browsers. During 
evaluation, a tester checks through the page structure as well as reviews 
code whenever necessary. 
The process of manual testing makes it easy to find accessibility problems 
that are not possible to be found programmatically. Like for instance a 
testing tool or program can determine whether an image comes with a 
descriptive text, but a manual testing can show if the description that 
comes with it offers enough information regarding the image. In order to 
perform manual testing for larger sites, it is necessary to have a precise and 
detailed systematic overview so that all web pages and key elements are 
properly covered.
Automated Accessibility Testing
Many testers prefer automatic testing since they are done with the help of 
tools and they can provide with an initial assessment rather quickly. They 
can also provide a fair idea regarding site accessibility on a large scale. 
Another distinct advantage with automated accessibility testing is that as 
long as the pages of a site are properly connected, a tester does not need 
to worry about not evaluating any pages. Although it is always a great idea 
to go through the pages and double check the test results to make sure 
that nothing is amiss, a tester may need to go through a problem multiple 
times if it occurs repeatedly. 
The tester can also file repeated occurrences much faster if that is the case. 
Nevertheless, there are certain issues that cannot be detected by 
automated testing. Such issues depend on the guidelines or standards for 
which the tests are being conducted. For instance, when testing is being 
carried out for some specific syntax, like a valid HTML code, color contrast, 
or existence of some programmatic table headers, the tools used for 
automatic testing can definitely present us with 100% accurate results. On 
the other hand, automated tools cannot offer us reliable results if the 
tester tries to determine whether certain information is actually indicated 
by use of the color only.
About SMB-Corner
SMB Corner (Small and Medium Business Corner) website serves SMB 
owners in providing information which is insightful, useful and actionable. 
One can find info about SMBs in various sectors like health, science, 
shopping, society, finance, technology and many others. Site provides 
honest opinions, tips and issues related to small and medium-sized 
businesses. The information provided on smb-corner.com not only covers 
business angles of SMB owners but also helps them with tips in their 
regular day-to-day lives and guide them in the right direction.
Thank you for spending your time in reading this article!