Build accessibility testing into planning, design, implementation, CI, manual QA, and follow-up—not just a final release audit. Set the target and scope first, automate checks that can catch common defects and regressions, and pair them with structured evaluation by people using keyboards, assistive technology, and varied display settings. A clean automated report is useful evidence; it is not proof that a product is accessible.
Set the target and scope before choosing checks
Agree what you are evaluating before you decide what a passing result means. Define the product and the parts of it in scope: platforms, pages or views, features, content types, important user flows, and relevant technologies. Establish the applicable accessibility standard and conformance level for the project rather than assuming one applies universally. Legal obligations can depend on jurisdiction and product context, so identify those requirements with the appropriate internal or external expertise.
W3C’s WCAG-EM 2.0 is an evaluation methodology—not an additional set of WCAG requirements. Its five stages are scope, explore, sample, evaluate, and report. Version 2, published 23 July 2026, extends the methodology beyond websites to mobile apps and other digital products. W3C recommends integrating accessibility from the beginning and throughout planning, design, and development. See the WCAG-EM overview.
Map views, flows, and interaction states
Make an inventory of the product elements people need to use, not just a list of URLs. Include representative page or screen types, shared components, forms, navigation, overlays, and content formats. For each important flow, identify the states a user may encounter: validation errors, expanded menus, dialogs, loading, empty results, success messages, and other changes after interaction.
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This map helps the team connect checks to actual use. A static landing page scan, for example, cannot tell you whether a keyboard user can complete a multi-step form or whether a screen reader announces an error after submission. W3C’s WCAG-EM guidance covers exploring a product and identifying its functionality and technologies before evaluation.
Choose a representative sample when exhaustive coverage is not practical
If the product has too many views to evaluate every one in a given cycle, use a documented, structured sample. Include important user flows, distinct layouts and content types, and shared elements with broad impact. WCAG-EM also describes structured and random sampling approaches.
Record what the sample includes and excludes. A sample can make evaluation tractable, but it does not establish that untested views are free of barriers. Revisit the sample when the product changes substantially or when findings point to risk elsewhere.
Put automated checks close to code changes
Use automated accessibility checks during implementation and in the CI or pull-request workflow so the team can discover detectable defects while the related code is still being changed. Depending on the product stack, checks may run as code linting, tests, or browser-based checks. Tool choice should fit the platform and existing development workflow; W3C’s evaluation methodology is not tied to a particular vendor, browser, or assistive technology.
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Decide explicitly how results affect a build. A team might start by reporting findings without blocking, then block new violations after it has addressed existing issues and calibrated the checks. Another team may choose a different threshold. Microsoft’s sample repository demonstrates running automated checks in CI and pull-request builds, including configuring builds to fail on results; that is an implementation example, not a universal W3C requirement. See the Microsoft Accessibility Insights Web sample.
Automation can identify some issues and help catch regressions, but it cannot determine whether a product meets accessibility standards or identify every barrier. W3C states that knowledgeable human evaluation is required to determine whether a site is accessible. Microsoft likewise notes that some barriers only appear during interactive use. Treat scanner results as one input, not a conformance certificate. See W3C’s evaluation overview and Microsoft’s accessibility testing resources.
Select tools by where and what they test
Compare tools against your platform and workflow rather than assuming one scanner covers the whole evaluation. Deque documents examples such as web APIs or configured packages, mobile SDKs and Appium, and code-level linting in pull requests. These are vendor-documented integration examples, not a requirement to buy a particular product. See Deque’s CI/CD information and Deque’s axe platform page.
- Platform: Does it support the web, mobile, desktop, or other product surfaces you need to evaluate?
- Workflow location: Can it run in the editor, as a linter, in unit or end-to-end tests, through browser inspection, or in CI?
- Test type: Is the check automated, guided or semi-automated, or a manual evaluation step?
- Fit with your stack: Does it integrate with the frameworks and CI system already in use?
- Usefulness of results: Can the team understand findings, assign remediation, and confirm fixes?
- Coverage boundaries: What standards and rules does it address, and what kinds of evaluation still require people?
- Human testing: Does the overall workflow include keyboard, assistive-technology, and user evaluation rather than stopping at a scan?
W3C’s ACT work provides a way to express and harmonize test rules; the ACT Rules Community Group has developed over 50 rules. That figure describes the group’s rules, not the number any one product implements or a guarantee of coverage. See the W3C ACT overview.
Schedule manual checks for real interaction
Make manual evaluation a planned activity, with named owners and an appropriate environment, rather than an informal last-minute spot check. Cover the interactions and display conditions most relevant to your product.
- Keyboard: Navigate with the keyboard, operate interactive controls, and check that focus is visible and moves in a usable order through important tasks.
- Interactive states: Exercise menus, dialogs, validation, dynamic updates, and other changing states. Check that the result of an action can be perceived and used.
- Display changes: Check relevant zoom levels and changes in display size, including whether content and controls remain usable.
- Assistive technology: Evaluate with screen readers and, where relevant, voice recognition and high-contrast settings.
- Task completion: Attempt representative user flows rather than testing controls in isolation; note where people lose context, cannot find a control, or cannot recover from an error.
These checks complement automation because many barriers depend on interaction and context. Microsoft’s testing guidance recommends manual checks and notes that testers with different accessibility needs can reveal issues automated tools miss: Microsoft Learn: Resources for accessibility testing.
Involve people with disabilities and accessibility expertise
Include people with disabilities and assistive-technology users in evaluation where practical. W3C’s WCAG-EM recommends involving real users with disabilities, and Microsoft identifies testers with different accessibility needs as valuable. Their observations are important evidence about product use, not a claim that any one participant represents every disabled person.
Plan participation with care: choose tasks that reflect real use, provide accessible materials and environments, and make it possible for participants to explain barriers in their own terms. Expertise can also include accessibility standards, accessible design and development, assistive technology, and how people use digital products. A team may need outside specialists for these capabilities; that is an option based on its needs, not a prerequisite imposed by a particular tool.
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Keep an evaluation record that lets the team understand what was assessed and what remains uncertain. WCAG-EM places reporting after scope, product exploration, sampling, and evaluation. Include:
- the product, scope, and target conformance level;
- the views, flows, and states evaluated, including the sample and exclusions;
- the automated and manual methods, tools, and relevant assistive-technology context;
- observed successes and failures, with enough detail to reproduce each finding;
- an owner and remediation status for each finding; and
- the checks rerun to verify a correction.
After a fix, rerun the relevant automated check and repeat the manual task or assistive-technology check that exposed the problem. A report generator can organize results that people provide, but it does not perform the evaluation. W3C’s Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) Tool helps structure a report from supplied information; it does not run checks or establish conformance.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Repeat evaluation across the product lifecycle
Accessibility is ongoing work because products, content, and dependencies change. Keep automated checks close to code changes, include manual evaluation in planned QA, and revisit important flows after substantial design or implementation changes. A final audit or periodic monitoring can add assurance, but neither replaces evaluation during planning and development. W3C recommends evaluation early and throughout a project lifecycle: W3C WAI: Evaluating Web Accessibility Overview.
Or skip the browser setup
ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server, not an accessibility scanner or a substitute for the workflow above. A screenshot can help a team inspect a rendered page, but it cannot establish keyboard access, screen-reader behavior, or accessibility conformance. For visual capture, one GET request returns an image or PDF; details and options are in the ScreenshotNeo documentation.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpFor accessibility-oriented visual review, adapt the target URL and use capture options appropriate to the page. ScreenshotNeo removes cookie and consent banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; those steps can be turned off. Bot checks and CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and the response identifies the page verdict and billing status in headers. Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools for AI agents. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots. Learn about ScreenshotNeo or sign up for 1,000 free screenshots a month, with no card.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does WCAG-EM add new accessibility requirements?
No. It is a W3C-supported methodology for evaluating conformance, not an additional set of WCAG requirements.
Can a representative sample establish that every part of a product conforms?
No. A sample can make evaluation manageable, but findings apply to the evaluated scope and sample; document what was and was not checked.
Does ScreenshotNeo test accessibility?
No. It captures web pages as images or PDFs; it does not assess accessibility or replace automated and human accessibility evaluation.
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