The tool allows you to plug in two different colors by their hex values, and it calculates the contrast between them, and if they meet or fail different WCAG color contrast standards. WebAIM Color Contrast Checker: A web-based contrast tool by the experts at WebAIM.
There are a variety of web-based and desktop software to tell you the current color contrast, and provide suggestions for different colors that meet different tiers of contrast requirements. While automated testing tools are adept at identifying some color contrast issues, they don’t typically tell you what colors you should use if the current color contrast is insufficient. These share the same limitations as website-testing applications, but can be useful to identify problems before they get shared to a wider audience. This creates a slightly busier interface, but may help people identify the exact areas of their page that require attention.īuilt-In automated accessibility testing tools in content-authoring software – MS Office products including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Adobe Acrobat and other platforms, have built-in accessibility testing tools. Similar to SiteImprove, but it also adds icons to the page where the accessibility issues can be found.
WAVE toolbar – a free browser plugin for Chrome and Firefox that detects issues on the current page with a single button click.
SiteImprove – a free browser plugin for Chrome and Firefox that detects issues on the current page with a single button click.
The best tools will catch about 33% of errors, and automated testing tools produce both false positive and false negative errors.Īutomated testing tools are good for catching the following types of errors: It’s important to understand that all automated testing tools are imperfect. Automated Testing ToolsĪutomated testing tools are useful as easy, first-pass methods to identify the biggest accessibility issues. Understanding the types of tools available to you, and their respective strengths and limitations, will help you choose appropriate tools to help streamline the testing process. There are a variety of tools to assist you in performing an accessibility self-evaluation of your website or other digital content.