Does a Clean Accessibility Report Mean a Clean Website?

A clean automated accessibility report is easy to take as proof that customers can use the site. It only means the checks that ran found nothing they look for.

A complaint under the Americans with Disabilities Act starts with what a customer ran into on the page. A clean report is not a defense. An independent, dated record of what customers run into is.

In October, Esther assessed a website whose automated report showed none of the barriers below. Esther found them where customers act: opening an account, finding a location, and getting the app. Each was confirmed on the live website.

What customers ran into

Buttons that are hard to read. The site's buttons use white text on its brand color. Esther found a color contrast of 3.94 to 1 between the two. The accessibility standard asks for at least 4.5 to 1 for ordinary text, and the higher the number, the easier text is to read.

Links that don't say where they go. People who are blind often use a screen reader, software that reads the page aloud. On the link to the home page and the link to the mobile app, Esther found that it says only "link." A person listening can't tell where either one goes. Esther also found a map on the page that is read aloud with no name at all.

The report showed none of it. The page showed all of it.

Why that matters for your site

A report covers the checks it ran. Customers use the website itself, and they're the ones who give up on an application, call instead, or complain. The same is true for a city's website, a bank's, a store's, or a clinic's.

The work is smaller than it looks

Most of the contrast barriers came from one brand color. Changing that color fixes them on every page at once. Esther dated every barrier it found, so what is fixed can be shown.

Where your own site stands

Three questions, each answerable in a few minutes:

• ?Has anyone independent of the people who built your site looked at it?
• ?Can your brand color carry white text? The standard asks for a color contrast of at least 4.5 to 1 between text and its background. If every button shares one color, one answer covers every page.
• ?What does a screen reader say for your logo and your app store buttons? If all it says is "link," a customer listening can't tell where it goes.

A clean report tells you what a tool checked. A dated record tells you what your customers run into, and when.

What readable text needs is in What Contrast Does Website Text Need to Be Readable? For a private organization, what a missed barrier means for customers is at For business. For a public body, the dates and the evidence you'll be asked for are at For government.