54 Testing for Compliance VS Testing for Accessibility

An important distinction must be made between testing for compliance and testing for accessibility. The goal of compliance is to meet legislative requirements, whereas the goal of accessibility is to be as accessible as possible for as many individuals as possible. 

Learning how to test for compliance and accessibility can greatly improve the workflow of your projects and improve the equity of your environment for your colleagues and clients.

Testing for Compliance

As of January 1st, 2021, businesses who have over 50 employees or who are publicly funded in Ontario must meet 2.0, AA level of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for public-facing digital content.

A list of these requirements can be found on the W3 website.

Some of these requirements can be evaluated with automatic testing tools. Certain requirements must be evaluated manually.