Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day
In honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, our PM team revisited accessibility testing fundamentals and best practices. Here's how we're working to build more inclusive digital experiences.
Each May, Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) invites people to think, talk, and learn about digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people worldwide living with disabilities.
To celebrate GAAD, our PM team gathered for a lunch-and-learn session hosted by our very own Nathan Schmidt. The session was tailored to give our PM team a refresher on our best practices for accessibility testing, including how to spot issues, test interfaces using specific methods and tools, and improve our workflows for building more inclusive digital experiences.
Accessibility Testing Workshop
We kicked off our session by reviewing a website that a potential client had requested we audit for accessibility. Each PM took 5-10 minutes to search independently for possible accessibility issues. Here’s what we found:
- Unreadable error messages: Some messages were bright red on a pink/orange background, making them difficult to see, and inaccessible for users with low vision or color blindness.
- ARIA and keyboard navigation issues: We identified missing or incorrect ARIA labels that made navigating with assistive technologies challenging.
- Broken focus order: Tab navigation didn’t follow a logical flow, and non-visible menu items were still included in the tab sequence.
- Missing skip-to-content link: The absence of a skip link increased friction for keyboard and screen reader users.
- Unexpected form submissions: Tabbing through form fields triggered submission before reaching the intended button.
- Lack of text alternatives: The homepage video lacked alt text or descriptive content for screen reader users.
- Poor heading structure: All headings were marked as H2s, with no H1 or clear hierarchy to guide screen reader navigation.
- Inaccessible video controls: The video couldn’t be paused and didn’t support reduced motion preferences.
- Inaccessible UI components: Carousels and accordions weren’t keyboard-navigable or screen reader-friendly.
This exercise was by no means all-encompassing of the level of accessibility testing that should be completed. However, it was a great reminder that accessibility isn’t just about a checklist for final testing. Every phase of the design and development process should include decisions that support inclusive experiences. It was also reassuring to see that as a team, we were able to identify most of the significant issues in a short amount of time.
Screen Reader Testing Best Practices
Nathan also talked us through best practices for screen reader testing. The team watched a video demo of a power user navigating with advanced screen-reader techniques to get a better understanding of how these tools really work in practice. Some key takeaways from this discussion were:
- Screen reader software: About 40% of screen reader users rely on JAWS, which offers advanced navigation features not found in all screen readers. But testing on VoiceOver or NVDA is just as effective when checking for accessibility errors.
- Keyboard shortcuts: To effectively test and navigate a website, using screen reader keyboard shortcuts is recommended. These shortcuts differ based on the specific software. Refer to the VoiceOver shortcuts and NVDA shortcuts for more information.
The team also walked through a new resource page outlining how we should approach screen reader testing at Viget, including quick references to keyboard shortcuts, navigation commands, and using our other testing tools to simulate test environments for different screen readers.
Updated Accessibility Checklist
One of the significant outcomes from this session was unveiling an improved version of our accessibility checklist that we use across all of our projects. Some of the updates we made included:
- Updating and adding new direct links to WCAG documentation for each checklist item.
- Clear guidance and suggestions for which testing methods to use for different checklist items: automated tools, code-level checks, specific elements to look for, and common problem areas.
- We also expanded our coverage to include best practices beyond what’s strictly required.
Our accessibility checklist is a work in progress, and each update we make helps our teams to better plan for, track, validate, and standardize our approach to accessibility during our projects.
Final Thoughts
This session was an excellent opportunity to reinforce that accessibility isn’t a task or a milestone, it’s a mindset. Every team member plays a role in ensuring our work is inclusive, and thoughtful decisions made at every step can make a meaningful difference for real users.
Thanks again to Nathan for leading the session. We’re looking forward to continuing the conversation and making improvements beyond Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
