2. Introduction to WCAG
WCAG Web Auditing Review Template
Now that you have an understanding of WCAG, we will introduce you to an accessibility auditing template. You can use the template to record issues when you conduct audits, but it also acts as a checklist to help commit the guidelines to memory. For now, review the layout and elements of the Web Auditing Review Template and add it to your Web Accessibility Auditing Toolkit.
Elements of the Review Template
Title: This field should indicate the type of review, either General, Template, or Detailed (to be covered in greater detail in the unit Web Accessibility Audit Reporting) and the guideline it is based on.
Location: The URL of the homepage of the site being reviewed.
Date: The date the review was finished.
Reviewer: The name of the person(s) who completed the review.
Guideline Reference: A link to the guideline(s) the review is based upon.
Tools Used During This Review: A list of the tools used in the review, including automated checkers, browsers, browser plugins, readability test tool, colour contrast test tool, screen readers, and any other tools used. Be sure to mention version numbers if applicable.
General Comments: An overview of the result of the WCAG 2.1 Review (below), outlining the key issues, why they are issues, with brief mention of potential solutions. This section is written for a general audience, minimizing the use of technical language.
WCAG 2.1 Review: The main content of the review. This is a list of WCAG 2.1 success criteria, each one’s conformance level (A, AA, AAA), the evaluation received (Pass, Fail, Pass?, Fail? N/A), and comments associated with the evaluations. These comments should identify accessibility issues relevant to the guideline, explain why an issue presents a barrier, and offer potential solutions to resolve issues. The review should be aimed at the web developers who will be resolving the issues identified and may contain technical language and sample code that can be replicated. Screenshots and other graphics can be used to enhance explanations given in the text of the comments.
There will likely be cases when borderline issues are identified, where it could be argued that some element may pass or fail the associated success criteria. In such cases “Pass?” (with the question mark) is used where the auditor is leaning toward a pass, but others might argue it fails. And, use “Fail?” where the auditor is leaning toward a fail, though others might argue it passes. One example might be a description for an image provided in an alt attribute that does not fully describe the meaningful information in the image. In such cases it is often a subjective decision by the auditor, commenting to the author of the alt text to review the text to determine whether it “adequately” describes the meaning one should take away from the image if it were being viewed. Questionable pass or fail is described more thoroughly in the example linked in the Toolkit box below.
Not