What it cannot do

This page exists because the alternative is letting you find out later.

Automated testing covers part of WCAG

Not all of it. Not most of it, depending on how you count.

The plugin runs 41 checks. WCAG 2.2 Level AA has far more success criteria than that, and many of them are not mechanically decidable at all. A clean report means these 41 checks found nothing.

Things no check here can judge

Whether your alt text is accurate. A check can see that alt text exists, that it is not the filename, that it is not absurdly long. It cannot see the image.

Whether a heading describes what follows it. Structure is checkable. Meaning is not.

Whether focus order makes sense. The plugin can find a positive tabindex and an unreachable scroll container. It cannot tell you that tabbing through your checkout jumps from the postcode field to the footer.

Whether link text is meaningful in context. “Read more” is catchable because it is a known phrase. A link labelled “the 2024 report” in a paragraph about three different reports is not.

Whether an error message helps. That it exists is checkable. That it tells somebody how to fix their mistake is not.

Whether your content is understandable. Reading level is a syllable count. It is a prompt, not a verdict. See Reading level.

Whether a video’s captions are correct, or its transcript complete.

Findings that need a person

The report separates barriers found from findings that need a person to look, and never adds them into one number. Some of the 41 checks can only raise the question, not settle it.

That separation is the point. A tool that reports everything as a barrier produces a long list you learn to ignore. A tool that reports only what it is certain about hides the rest.

It does not certify compliance

The plugin does not determine or certify whether your site complies with the ADA, the European Accessibility Act, Section 508, AODA, the UK Equality Act, or any other law. It is a tool for doing the work and keeping a record of it.

It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for testing with disabled users.

Be careful of any tool that tells you otherwise. The overlay products that promise compliance in one line of JavaScript have drawn regulatory action, and the claim is the reason.

What actually finishes the job

Keyboard testing. Tab through the whole thing. Can you reach everything? Can you tell where you are? Can you get out of a dialog?

A screen reader. VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, NVDA on Windows, TalkBack on Android. An hour with one teaches you more than any report.

Zoom and reflow. 200% zoom, and a 320px viewport. Does anything get cut off or overlap?

Testing with disabled users. The only method that finds what everything else missed, and the only one that tells you whether your site is usable rather than conformant.

The plugin exists to clear the mechanical work out of the way so there is time left for this part.