FAQs
How to measure digital accessibility?
Measuring digital accessibility requires a combination of automated tools, manual reviews, and inclusive user testing. This process is commonly known as an accessibility audit, which evaluates how well your website or application meets standards such as WCAG and identifies barriers that affect people with disabilities.
To monitor progress, organisations can track accessibility metrics, including:
User impact
Screen reader compatibility
Error density
Compliance with WCAG levels
Keyboard accessibility score
Unique issues
Remediation rate
What is a good accessibility score?
An accessibility score is a rating awarded to a website or application to show how well it meets accessibility guidelines. Automated tools like Axe and Lighthouse can provide helpful indicators, although they only cover a portion of the requirements needed for full compliance.
Sites are generally given a score out of 100, with a ‘good’ accessibility score achieving 90+. However, it’s important to remember that even high scores should be verified through manual testing and user feedback since automated checks cannot capture every barrier.
How often should accessibility be tested?
Accessibility should be tested continuously, not just once. It is important to consider accessibility at every stage, whether that’s during an ideation session, developing concepts, or actually writing code.
A common mistake organisations make is relying on one-off audits, which often leads to recurring issues, costly remediation work, and ineffective use of resources.
To avoid the audit-fix loop, best practice is:
Combine manual and automated testing
Test your code regularly
Conduct a full audit before significant changes
Re-test after updates or changes
Monitor regularly to ensure compliance
Can automated testing guarantee compliance?
No, automatic testing alone cannot guarantee compliance. Automated tools like WAVE and Axe are useful for quickly spotting common issues such as missing alt text or poor colour contrast, but they only cover a limited portion of WCAG requirements.
Relying solely on automation risks missing key accessibility barriers like screen reader compatibility and keyboard navigation, which can only be identified through manual testing and inclusive user testing.
To ensure full compliance, organisations should use automated tools, expert audits, and real user feedback to inform their ongoing accessibility strategy.