Think about this: How many times a day does someone access their smartphone? Now, imagine opening your favourite mobile app, but it’s not possible to see half the screen, or the buttons are way too small to accurately tap. This sounds frustrating, but unfortunately is the bitter reality for millions of disabled users worldwide.
That’s why mobile accessibility testing is so critical; it can ensure that the mobile applications can be used smoothly by anyone, regardless of ability. It’s not just about compliance with laws or guidelines such as ADA and WCAG or web accessibility standards; it’s about inclusivity. By designing apps that accommodate all users – whether through screen reader, voice-activated features, or keyboard navigation – you’re not just ticking a box, you’re ensuring no one is left behind. In fact, making your app accessible to people with disabilities also makes it more user-friendly for everyone. The broader principle of digital accessibility ensures that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can use your digital products seamlessly.
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Critical factors for effective mobile accessibility testing
Now, here is a real challenge: device diversity. Today, people use everything from small budget phones to high-end tablets, all running on different operating systems. Your application might look perfect on one device, but what happens with the rest? Accessibility issues can behave very differently across devices, mobile devices, and platforms. Whether it’s iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, or Linux, each platform has its quirks and accessibility tools like screen readers, magnifiers, and more. Developers need to test across a wide variety of real devices to ensure that all users have access.
For instance, does your app function seamlessly on iOS as well as on Android? Does it hold up on a smaller screen the same way? How about those accessibility tools on each platform, like screen readers or magnifiers: do they work correctly? This is not only important for mobile accessibility but also for web accessibility, ensuring your app’s accessibility extends beyond mobile platforms to browser-based environments. Ultimately, the goal is to make your app accessible to people with a range of needs and align with overall digital accessibility goals.
User interaction and assistive technologies
Assistive technologies are the tools by which people with impairments interact with their apps. These can include screen readers, voice command tools, and keyboard navigation – and your new mobile app must be fully compatible with them, right from login to the very last page.
For instance, not having keyboard navigation might almost by definition exclude those users that have physical impairments who might not be able to use a touch screen, keyboard and custom gestures. If you don’t include support for screen readers, you would make your app inaccessible to blind users. This might be the difference between a useable app versus a completely unusable app for a disabled user, so it’s important to get it right.
Critical factors for effective mobile accessibility testing
Think of the amount of visual information that gets thrown at you by all these mobile apps: images, icons, buttons. However, not everybody registers information through a visual medium in the same way, and not everybody is able to read and see in the same format. For example:
- You need to provide alternative ways of accessing visual elements, such as alt text for images, so that a screen reader can read out a description to a visually impaired user.
- You also need to consider the user’s ability to resize your app’s text, without negatively affecting the layout of your app.
- High contrast in colour is very important. A person with visual impairments or colour blindness should be able to read text comfortably, and therefore you need to make sure that colour contrast meets accessibility guidelines.
Without these kinds of features, a user is unlikely to have the patience to try to navigate through an app that they are struggling to use, and they’re likely to abandon your app for something that caters more for their needs.
Testing for compliance with accessibility standards
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of widely accepted standards rather than a mandated legal necessity. The rules are designed to help persons with a variety of disabilities, such as physical, learning, intellectual, sensory, and learning impairments, access websites, apps, electronic documents, and other digital assets. Using the WCAG as a blueprint makes your app adhere properly to all that is required by regulations on accessibility for the disabled. This way, your application will not just function but also become user-friendly for people with and without special needs.
It’s also worth mentioning that there are some regions with a legal requirement to adhere to these guidelines – and if you produce software that obviously contradicts them, there may be consequences to deal with. Of course, this shouldn’t be your motivation for getting accessibility right – your motivation should be that accessibility means your app is usable and enjoyable by everyone, not just those without disabilities.
Implementing an accessibility testing strategy
So, what constitutes an effective app accessibility testing strategy? Well, you begin with clearly setting your targets. Are you looking to make your app more navigable with screen readers, or is it text scaling and keyboard accessibility? You need to define this properly and make sure it’s measurable. One of the most important ways of doing this is by gathering feedback through user testing – actually have disabled people use your apps and games and ask them what they found difficult to use, see or hear.
After you have established your goals, go on to designing test cases. Some test scenarios should focus on specific scopes of accessible features: app navigation using the keyboard only, the voice-command feature, or whether text sizes are adjustable. And, of course, you’ll need to have the right tools in place to be able to implement and automate portions of this process. Test automation tools like T-Plan can assist in automating portions of this process, allowing for thorough and continuous manual testing and automation of accessibility features.
Challenges and solutions in mobile accessibility testing
Diverse User Needs: Testing for accessibility is one of the hardest things to achieve, with so many varied user needs. Sometimes it feels impossible to ensure your app works for every user. So, how do you get over this? Engaging real users with a disability in your testing process is going to help you find the trouble that even you didn’t know existed.
Complex App Interfaces: Consisting of complex app interfaces and very rich in features, modern applications have one drawback: the more complicated the interface, the harder it is to make it accessible. The solution? Keep it simple. Have an intuitive, clean design from the start. That way, accessibility is built into the foundation of the app, not an afterthought.
Time and Resource Constraints: Let’s be honest—accessibility testing can sometimes make development appear to move so much slower. How can we juggle this? Prioritising accessibility up front saves you from costly fixes down the road. Utilising T-Plan’s automated testing features; you’ll be able to smooth that process quickly without buying your thoroughness.
Benefits of effective mobile accessibility testing
Why do all this work? Well, the benefits are huge. An app that works for everybody is the app everybody likes to use. This extends to user satisfaction, which can mean better reviews, more downloads, and higher retention. But wait—there’s more. Good accessibility testing also extends your market reach. Making your app accessible to the disabled means making your app available to a significant percentage of the population which would otherwise be off-limits, and making accessibility part of your brand helps to build trust and loyalty among all users.
Leveraging T-Plan for comprehensive accessibility testing
We know it can feel overwhelming to do accessibility testing. We humbly argue that it need not be so with T-Plan. Our platform is thoughtfully crafted so you can streamline the majority of the accessibility testing process components while preserving the subtleties of your implementation. And with CI/CD capabilities at hand, you can easily implement T-Plan’s Accessibility Testing at every stage of development in a way that you catch issues early and often.
Be it with screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, text scalability or all these in between, T-Plan will help you make sure that your app is not just accessible but enjoyable for each one of your users.
Final thoughts – why mobile accessibility testing is so essential
The significance of accessibility lies in the fact that developing inclusive, intuitive, and WCGA compliant applications requires mobile accessibility testing. It guarantees that everyone can use your software efficiently, regardless of their ability. Extensive accessibility testing increases market reach for your product, guarantees standard compliance, and improves user experience.
Accessibility Testing tools and resources provided by T-Plan can significantly expedite your accessibility testing processes and procedures, facilitating compliance with legal requirements as well as providing an excellent user experience to those who would otherwise be locked out of your app. We’re offering a free trial of T-Plan Robot, which you can check out using the link below.
