Boost Your Site’s WCAG Compliance with ACheckerAccessibility is not optional — it’s a legal, ethical, and practical requirement for modern websites. Ensuring your site meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) improves usability for people with disabilities, broadens your audience, and reduces legal risk. AChecker is a widely used, free tool that helps developers, content authors, and site owners evaluate accessibility against WCAG and other standards. This article explains how AChecker works, how to integrate it into your workflow, and practical steps to improve WCAG compliance across your site.
What is AChecker?
AChecker (Accessibility Checker) is an automated evaluation tool that scans web pages and reports potential accessibility problems. It compares content against accessibility guidelines such as WCAG 2.0/2.1, and flags errors, likely problems, and items that require manual review. AChecker can be used as a web service (online), installed locally, or integrated into development workflows.
Why use AChecker for WCAG compliance?
- Identifies clear violations of WCAG that can be fixed programmatically (e.g., missing alt attributes, incorrect heading structure).
- Separates issues by certainty: Errors (definite failures), Likely Problems (probable issues), and Manual Checks (items needing human judgment).
- Supports multiple standards, including WCAG and national variants, so you can target the right compliance level.
- Free and easy to start with — a low barrier for teams of any size.
Understanding AChecker’s output
AChecker groups results into three categories:
- Errors — automatic, definite failures against the chosen guideline (e.g., missing form labels).
- Likely Problems — items that probably violate the guideline but need developer inspection (e.g., ambiguous link text).
- Potential/Manual Checks — areas requiring human review to determine compliance (e.g., whether content order is meaningful).
Address Errors first (they’re straightforward). Then review Likely Problems and complete Manual Checks with UX and content teams.
Preparing your site for scanning
Before running AChecker across your site, prepare to get accurate and useful results:
- Choose the correct guideline and version (WCAG 2.0 vs 2.1) and conformance level (A, AA, AAA).
- Test representative pages — home, key templates (article, product, form), and pages with dynamic content.
- Ensure the pages you test are publicly accessible or set up temporary access for the scanner.
- Use test accounts or staging environments for pages behind authentication; some AChecker deployments can handle local files or pasted HTML.
How to run AChecker
You can use AChecker in several ways:
- Web interface: paste a page URL or HTML and select guideline/version.
- Batch or automated runs: some installations and third-party integrations allow repeated scans (useful for CI).
- Local installation: host AChecker on a server to scan internal sites or integrate with internal tools.
When scanning, document the tests (URL, date, guideline, level) so you can track remediation progress.
Interpreting results and prioritizing fixes
Use this triage approach:
- Fix all Errors first — these are clear WCAG failures and usually quick wins (e.g., add missing alt text).
- Review Likely Problems with designers and developers; some may require content rewrites or structural changes.
- For Manual Checks, involve accessibility specialists, QA testers, and people with disabilities where possible.
Prioritize pages by traffic and business importance. Fix high-impact issues on high-traffic pages first.
Common problems AChecker finds and how to fix them
- Missing or empty alt attributes on images
- Fix: Provide descriptive alt text for informative images; use empty alt (alt=“”) for decorative images.
- Missing form labels or inaccessible form controls
- Fix: Use
- Poor heading structure (skipped levels, duplicated H1)
- Fix: Use semantic headings (H1–H6) in logical order to reflect content hierarchy.
- Low color contrast
- Fix: Adjust foreground/background colors to meet contrast ratios (WCAG AA: 4.5:1 for normal text).
- Links with non-descriptive text (e.g., “click here”)
- Fix: Use context-rich link text that describes the destination or action.
- Missing language declarations
- Fix: Set the page language with the lang attribute on the element.
Using AChecker with manual testing and assistive tech
Automated tools find many issues but not all. Combine AChecker with manual testing:
- Keyboard-only navigation: ensure all interactive elements are reachable and usable via keyboard.
- Screen reader testing: use NVDA, VoiceOver, or JAWS to verify reading order, ARIA usage, and label clarity.
- Mobile accessibility testing: check touch targets, zoom behavior, and responsive reflow.
- Real-user testing: involve people with disabilities to validate real-world accessibility.
Integrating AChecker into development workflows
To make accessibility continuous:
- Add accessibility scans to pull requests or CI pipelines (use local AChecker or similar CLI tools).
- Include an accessibility checklist in design and content review processes.
- Train developers and content authors on common accessibility patterns and WCAG success criteria.
- Track issues in your issue tracker and assign owners and deadlines.
Example workflow:
- Developer creates feature branch.
- Automated tests run, including AChecker scan of affected templates.
- Developer fixes Errors and Likely Problems.
- Accessibility reviewer performs Manual Checks and screen reader tests before merge.
Measuring progress and reporting
Track metrics such as:
- Number of Errors per page and per template.
- Percentage of pages meeting WCAG AA.
- Time to fix accessibility issues.
Create regular accessibility reports for stakeholders with before/after snapshots, remediation timelines, and user impact summaries.
Limitations of AChecker
- Automation gap: AChecker cannot detect all accessibility issues — manual review is essential.
- False positives/negatives: Some results require human interpretation.
- Dynamic content: Single-page apps and content loaded by JavaScript may need special handling or a headless browser-based scan.
Practical checklist to boost WCAG compliance using AChecker
- Choose WCAG version and level (usually WCAG 2.1 AA).
- Scan representative pages with AChecker.
- Fix all Errors reported.
- Review and resolve Likely Problems.
- Conduct Manual Checks and screen reader tests.
- Integrate scans into CI and code review.
- Train teams and document accessibility patterns.
- Repeat scans regularly and after major releases.
Conclusion
AChecker is a practical and accessible tool for identifying many WCAG compliance issues quickly. Used alongside manual testing, assistive-technology checks, and a development process that treats accessibility as first-class, AChecker can help you make meaningful, measurable improvements to your site’s accessibility and inclusivity.
Leave a Reply