Accessibility Review Playbooks

Objective

Perform systematic accessibility reviews to identify and remediate accessibility barriers. Reviews combine automated checks, manual testing and assistive technology verification.

Inputs

Prerequisites

Workflow

Step 1: Automated Scan

Run automated accessibility checks:

  1. Use axe DevTools or WAVE browser extension.
  2. Run CI-based accessibility linter (e.g., axe-core, Pa11y).
  3. Document all automated findings.
  4. Filter false positives.

Step 2: Manual Keyboard Test

  1. Tab through all interactive elements.
  2. Verify visible focus indicators.
  3. Test all custom widget keyboard interactions.
  4. Verify no keyboard traps.

Step 3: Screen Reader Test

  1. Test with VoiceOver (macOS) or NVDA (Windows).
  2. Navigate by headings, landmarks and links.
  3. Verify form labels and error announcements.
  4. Test dynamic content updates.

Step 4: Visual Review

  1. Check colour contrast for all text and UI components.
  2. Verify content is readable at 200% zoom.
  3. Check responsive layout at different viewport sizes.
  4. Verify reduced motion preferences are respected.

Step 5: Document Findings

  1. Record all findings with severity labels (see Accessibility References).
  2. Include the WCAG criterion violated for each finding.
  3. Provide reproduction steps and remediation guidance.
  4. Prioritise findings by impact.

Severity Labels

SeverityDescription
CriticalComplete barrier — user cannot complete a task.
HighSignificant barrier — task is very difficult.
MediumModerate barrier — task is more difficult than needed.
LowMinor issue — does not block task completion.

Checklist

Escalation Points

Expected Outputs

Related Documents