4 ms·

Show HN: MAWD – Simple web accessibility testing for developers

29 points by fionatg 8y ago

onion2k 8y ago
The robot image on the home page doesn't have any alt text. Not a good start for an accessibility checking service.
- fionatg 8y ago
  The image is basically there to be decorative. In that scenario, an empty alt attribute is used to inform assistive technology that yes, there is an image here, but it isn't adding any further information. It's actually one of the main things that MAWD helps with right now. Putting alt text on all the images of random cats on a website only adds value to people if the cats are at all relevant to the content :) https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/H67 https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/H67
  - majora2007 8y ago
    Wouldn't adding role="presentation" be good for an image that is purely for decoration?
mstade 8y ago
It'd be useful to see a sample report before signing up. It doesn't have to be a form where I put my own site URL in, it can be some representative examples, but just so I know what I'm buying into. The wall of text is fine – it gives plenty of information – but proof's in the pudding.
- fionatg 8y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! I'll work on getting this added to the page, I understand where you're coming from there
Zealotux 8y ago
This website has a section with good (and free) tools for accessibility: https://progressivetooling.com https://progressivetooling.com
nicolaslem 8y ago
Does it work for web applications having most of their content behind an auth wall?
- fionatg 8y ago
  Yes, because it captures the data using a Chrome Extension. You have to navigate to the page and use the extension to capture the data. This means it works on sites that aren't even on the public internet, localhost, you name it.
fionatg 8y ago
This is a very spammy comment, but if anyone is interested but it's not a good time to sign up, you can sign up to my (totally not spammy) mailing list and get an accessibility poster as a bonus: https://myaccessible.website/subscribe https://myaccessible.website/subscribe
- frereubu 8y ago
  This link should be somewhere on the page - I didn't want to sign up to a beta but wanted to be notified about updates and couldn't see where to.
  - fionatg 8y ago
    Thank you - I will add this in.
darekkay 8y ago
Thumbs up for making the web more accessible! I was fortunate to work on a project with a WCAG AA requirement for the last 1.5 years, so I can only imagine how overwhelming is must be for people outside this area to make their sites accessible. > MAWD is designed to pick up 100% of the issues with a site, but she needs your help to do it. > 4 WCAG criteria fully tested. 22 different tests There are 4 WCAG principles with 12-13 guidlines, each having at least one success criteria. There are about 60 success criteria, so 22 different tests are far from 100%. I've also encountered many subjective decisions and screen reader quirks. It's probably much better than fully-automated tools (like pa11y or axe), but it still takes a lot of experience to find and fix all accessibility issues. I suggest lowering the "100%" claim.
zichy 8y ago
I just received this email from you: >I’m going to send you a few emails over the next couple of weeks to give you some hints and tips. Yeah, so I just marked your email address as spam. I never subscribed for any newsletter and there isn't any unsubscribe button either in your mail nor your website. Just stop.

29 points by fionatg 8y ago

onion2k 8y ago

The robot image on the home page doesn't have any alt text. Not a good start for an accessibility checking service.

fionatg 8y ago
The image is basically there to be decorative. In that scenario, an empty alt attribute is used to inform assistive technology that yes, there is an image here, but it isn't adding any further information. It's actually one of the main things that MAWD helps with right now. Putting alt text on all the images of random cats on a website only adds value to people if the cats are at all relevant to the content :) https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/H67 https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20161007/H67
- majora2007 8y ago
  Wouldn't adding role="presentation" be good for an image that is purely for decoration?

mstade 8y ago

It'd be useful to see a sample report before signing up. It doesn't have to be a form where I put my own site URL in, it can be some representative examples, but just so I know what I'm buying into. The wall of text is fine – it gives plenty of information – but proof's in the pudding.

fionatg 8y ago
Thanks for the feedback! I'll work on getting this added to the page, I understand where you're coming from there

Zealotux 8y ago

This website has a section with good (and free) tools for accessibility: https://progressivetooling.com https://progressivetooling.com

nicolaslem 8y ago

Does it work for web applications having most of their content behind an auth wall?

fionatg 8y ago
Yes, because it captures the data using a Chrome Extension. You have to navigate to the page and use the extension to capture the data. This means it works on sites that aren't even on the public internet, localhost, you name it.

fionatg 8y ago

This is a very spammy comment, but if anyone is interested but it's not a good time to sign up, you can sign up to my (totally not spammy) mailing list and get an accessibility poster as a bonus: https://myaccessible.website/subscribe https://myaccessible.website/subscribe

frereubu 8y ago
This link should be somewhere on the page - I didn't want to sign up to a beta but wanted to be notified about updates and couldn't see where to.
- fionatg 8y ago
  Thank you - I will add this in.

darekkay 8y ago

Thumbs up for making the web more accessible! I was fortunate to work on a project with a WCAG AA requirement for the last 1.5 years, so I can only imagine how overwhelming is must be for people outside this area to make their sites accessible. > MAWD is designed to pick up 100% of the issues with a site, but she needs your help to do it. > 4 WCAG criteria fully tested. 22 different tests There are 4 WCAG principles with 12-13 guidlines, each having at least one success criteria. There are about 60 success criteria, so 22 different tests are far from 100%. I've also encountered many subjective decisions and screen reader quirks. It's probably much better than fully-automated tools (like pa11y or axe), but it still takes a lot of experience to find and fix all accessibility issues. I suggest lowering the "100%" claim.

zichy 8y ago

I just received this email from you: >I’m going to send you a few emails over the next couple of weeks to give you some hints and tips. Yeah, so I just marked your email address as spam. I never subscribed for any newsletter and there isn't any unsubscribe button either in your mail nor your website. Just stop.