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Step 1 of 3 is free and automated

Test Your Website's Accessibility

Run a free automated test on any page, then use the manual checklist below to cover what automation cannot.

Real-browser testing. Full report, no signup, usually ready in a couple of minutes.

  • Images
  • Forms
  • Links and buttons
  • Headings and structure
  • Color contrast
  • ARIA
  • Keyboard access

Each page is rendered in a real browser and tested with axe-core against the machine-testable WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA success criteria. Automated testing does not replace a manual accessibility review.

The same checker, for people who want to know how to test, not just what a tool says

This page runs the free TagPipes Website Accessibility Checker: one page address, loaded in a real browser, tested with axe-core against the machine-testable WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA success criteria, reported in plain language. What is different here is the explanation around it, written for people who want to know how to test, not just what a tool says.

How to test a website for accessibility

A useful accessibility test has three parts, and they get more revealing as they get more manual. An automated scan finds the common technical barriers in minutes. A short manual checklist catches the problems a machine cannot judge. A pass with a screen reader shows you what the page is actually like to use. You do not need to be an expert to do the first two today.

  1. 1Automated scan. The form above. The page is loaded in a real browser and tested with axe-core; findings come back in plain language, ordered by impact.
  2. 2Ten-minute manual checklist. Keyboard, zoom, reflow, focus, forms and motion. Anyone with a browser can do it.
  3. 3Screen reader pass. Free screen readers ship with every major platform. Listening to your own page is the fastest way to understand the findings.

The ten-minute manual checklist

Do these on the same page you scanned. Each one covers something the automated test cannot decide.

  1. 1

    Put the mouse away and press Tab

    Can you reach every link, button, menu and form field? Can you always see which one has focus? Does anything trap you, or send focus somewhere unexpected? Use Enter and Space to activate controls, Escape to close things.

  2. 2

    Zoom to 200 percent

    Press Ctrl and plus (Cmd and plus on a Mac) until the browser reports 200 percent. Text should get bigger without overlapping, truncating or being cut off. Nothing should require scrolling sideways to read.

  3. 3

    Narrow the window to 320 pixels wide

    Or open the page on a phone. Content should reflow into a single column. Menus, tables and images should adapt rather than spill off the edge.

  4. 4

    Try the forms without reading the placeholders

    Does every field have a visible label that stays put when you type? When you submit an empty or wrong value, is the error explained in words, next to the field, and not just in red?

  5. 5

    Turn off images in your head

    For each meaningful image, imagine you could not see it. Is the text alternative the scan reported something that would tell you what you are missing? Decorative images should have an empty alternative, not a description of the decoration.

  6. 6

    Look for information carried by color alone

    Required fields marked only in red, chart series told apart only by hue, links distinguished from text only by color. Each needs a second cue: text, an icon, an underline, a pattern.

  7. 7

    Check anything that moves

    Carousels, auto-playing video, animated backgrounds. Can they be paused or stopped? Does the page respect the reduced-motion setting in the operating system?

  8. 8

    Read the page title and headings on their own

    Does the browser tab tell you which page you are on? If you list just the headings, do they describe the page's structure in order, starting with a single main heading?

  9. 9

    Watch a video with the sound off

    Captions should be present and accurate. If the video carries information visually, an audio description or a transcript is the alternative.

  10. 10

    Find the skip link

    Press Tab once on a fresh load. A "skip to main content" link should appear, and it should work. Without it, keyboard users tab through the whole header on every page.

Try a screen reader

Every major platform ships one for free. Fifteen minutes with one of these on your own page teaches more than any report.

1. Windows: NVDA or Narrator

NVDA is free and open source and is what most Windows screen reader users run alongside JAWS. Narrator is built in. Start on your home page, press H to jump between headings and Tab to move between controls, and listen for buttons announced as just "button".

2. Mac and iPhone: VoiceOver

Built in. On a Mac press Cmd-F5; on an iPhone triple-click the side button after enabling it in Accessibility settings. Swipe right on the phone to move through the page in order, which is the quickest way to hear the reading order.

3. Android: TalkBack

Built in on most devices, enabled in Accessibility settings. Because most of your visitors are on phones, hearing the mobile version of a page is often more revealing than the desktop one.

Which pages to test

One page is a snapshot. These are the ones where barriers cost the most.

1. The home page

Most visited, most templated. Header, navigation and footer problems found here usually exist on every page.

2. The page people are sent to

Campaign landing pages, product pages, the pricing page. They are built quickly, changed often and rarely retested.

3. Forms and checkouts

Contact, sign-up, appointment booking, checkout. A barrier here stops the visitor at the point where it costs you the most.

4. Sign-in and account pages

Where existing customers go every day. An inaccessible password field or two-factor prompt locks people out of a service they already pay for.

Frequently asked questions

TagPipes monitors, configures and reports. It does not determine legal compliance and does not provide legal advice. Output is informational and reflects observed state at the time of observation. Rawsoft's expertise is technology, not law; please confirm any regulatory interpretation with your own counsel.

More ways to check accessibility

One checker, the same real-browser scan, explained for the question you came with. Every report opens at the same place.

Start with the automated test.

Free, no signup, usually ready in a couple of minutes.

Start the Test