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Home > Web Services > You are here Accessibility audits

Accessibility audits

"Many thanks. The audit reports were just what we were looking for and the constructive feedback most helpful. We appreciate you turning them around in a tight timeframe."
Jos Smith, Web Compliance & Effectiveness Programme Manager, Cadbury Schweppes plc

AbilityNet has been auditing websites and software applications since 2000. Our auditing expertise is based upon everyday working with disabled individuals and the technologies they use – and though we use a range of tools to assist the auditing process, our audits are predominantly manual, in-depth and informed by practical experience.

We can audit your website, template, intranet or web applications to any recognised accessibility standard such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), or Section 508 Standards (US federal legislation).

More information on accessibility standards and which to choose.

We can also compliment your code audit with Disabled User Testing for a complete accessibility picture.

Types of Audit

AbilityNet can audit websites of any size or complexity - providing a clear roadmap to compliance and adding value with our practical expertise. Read more about the audit process below.

Though the audit process is always the same we can provide the results of audits in two distinct report formats - a full report or a traffic light report.

Full Report

This format of report is intended for use by web teams who need in-depth information to identify and remedy all accessibility issues with the website.
The full report comes in the form of an MS Word document, and contains:

• An indication of any failures your site has incurred against the guidelines, and an explanation of why this is an problem
• A detailed description of each accessibility issue, with code line numbers and snippets of the offending code and screenshots illustrating any problems
• An explanation of how to rectify the problem including examples of correct code
• Suggestions on how to improve the usability of your site
• A page by page break-down of issues
• Full appendices containing:
  • Tips to make your home page accessible and usable for everyone
  •  The most appropriate way to label images in all situations
  •  The approaches and technologies disabled people use to access the web
  •  A summary of how to make your sites usable by people with disabilities
  •  What information to include in your Accessibility pages

" Thank you very much for the Accessibility Report. The explanations and recommendations are very clear and easy to understand. We will take action on all your recommendations in future releases of the product."
John Waterworth, Head of Platform products, Eqos Ltd

Traffic Light report

Our Traffic Light report is an easy to see overview of the accessibility of your website designed to help web managers and budget holders see a site's accessibility at a glance – whilst still giving a detailed compliance break-down of every checkpoint for use by web teams.

The traffic light report comes in the form of an Excel spreadsheet containing:

• A front worksheet with easy to see pie chart illustrating overall site accessibility - with red, amber and green sections
• A worksheet with the full list of checkpoints – with red, amber or green indicators of site-wide fail, marginal fail or pass
• Brief explanatory notes on checkpoints failed or marginally failed

The audit process

We like to go that extra mile in auditing your website, just to make sure the result will be accessibility in practice - not just in theory. For example, an audit to the WCAG checkpoints includes:

• Expert manual testing against the checkpoints using a range of tools, including the AIS toolbar, Bobby and colour filters.
• Testing with alternate browsers
• HTML and CSS validation
• Expert input on layout, presentation and other factors that will impact upon usability

You will receive from us a detailed report which defines any areas where there are issues, and recommended solutions for fixing the problem. In the case of our full report format this includes screen shots and code snippets which will help you understand what the problem is from the disabled user’s perspective, as well as a summary which can be understood by non-technical individuals (such as managers who require justification to make the website accessible).

For more information:

• Email accessibility@AbilityNet.org.uk
• Phone 0800 269545

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