Accessibility Testing - Overview
What is Accessibility Testing?
Accessibility testing is the mechanism of insuring that electronic information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to add Section 508, eliminating barriers in information technology, making available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and encouraging development of technologies that help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508 (29 U.S.C. 794d), agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.
Test Objectives:
Accessibility (or 508) testing must address the following items mandated by the law:
(a) All functions can be run from a keyboard.
When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a
keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually.
(b) Built-in and documented accessibility features shall not be disrupted or disabled.
Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified as accessibility features where the application programming interface for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer of the operating system and is available to the product developer
(c) Assistive technology can track focus and changes.
A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that assistive technology can track focus and focus changes.
(d) Text equivalents provide identity, operation and the state of the user interface to assistive technology.
Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to assistive technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text.
(e) All bitmap images must be consistent.
When bitmap images are used to identify controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application’s performance.
(f) Operating system must provide text display functions.
Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input caret location, and text attributes.
(g) No overriding of user selected display attributes.
Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other hjbs.
(h) User must be able to opt for non-animated presentation mode.
When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user
(i) Information may not be conveyed by color coding alone.
Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element.
(j) A range of contrast levels must be provided.
When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided.
(k) Avoid particular frequencies of flashing elements.
Software shall not use flashing or blinking text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.
(l) Electronic forms must be made accessible through assistive technology.
When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.
Test Environment Planning
Specialized tools (such as Bobby, WinScreamer, etc.) are required for accessibility testing. These tools are required to test applications directly as written in original source code (for instance SAP, CITRIX, etc) and/or applications written as web accessible products (for instance: html and xml, etc.) These tools must be installed on applicable testing workstations prior to testing.
Test Design Strategy
Minimal effort is required to develop accessibility test scripts because the tests are tool driven. Test scripts are built into the tool to address all paragraphs in the law.
Test Design for accessibility:
• Develop test cases to describe the conditions, data and expected results for a particular test object
• Identify web accessible products for which multiple scripts will be required.
• Identify stakeholders to participate in the analysis of the accessibility deficiencies identified in the reports returned by the tool.
Accessibility testing is the mechanism of insuring that electronic information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to add Section 508, eliminating barriers in information technology, making available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and encouraging development of technologies that help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508 (29 U.S.C. 794d), agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.
Test Objectives:
Accessibility (or 508) testing must address the following items mandated by the law:
(a) All functions can be run from a keyboard.
When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a
keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually.
(b) Built-in and documented accessibility features shall not be disrupted or disabled.
Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified as accessibility features where the application programming interface for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer of the operating system and is available to the product developer
(c) Assistive technology can track focus and changes.
A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that assistive technology can track focus and focus changes.
(d) Text equivalents provide identity, operation and the state of the user interface to assistive technology.
Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to assistive technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text.
(e) All bitmap images must be consistent.
When bitmap images are used to identify controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application’s performance.
(f) Operating system must provide text display functions.
Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input caret location, and text attributes.
(g) No overriding of user selected display attributes.
Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other hjbs.
(h) User must be able to opt for non-animated presentation mode.
When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user
(i) Information may not be conveyed by color coding alone.
Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element.
(j) A range of contrast levels must be provided.
When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided.
(k) Avoid particular frequencies of flashing elements.
Software shall not use flashing or blinking text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.
(l) Electronic forms must be made accessible through assistive technology.
When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.
Test Environment Planning
Specialized tools (such as Bobby, WinScreamer, etc.) are required for accessibility testing. These tools are required to test applications directly as written in original source code (for instance SAP, CITRIX, etc) and/or applications written as web accessible products (for instance: html and xml, etc.) These tools must be installed on applicable testing workstations prior to testing.
Test Design Strategy
Minimal effort is required to develop accessibility test scripts because the tests are tool driven. Test scripts are built into the tool to address all paragraphs in the law.
Test Design for accessibility:
• Develop test cases to describe the conditions, data and expected results for a particular test object
• Identify web accessible products for which multiple scripts will be required.
• Identify stakeholders to participate in the analysis of the accessibility deficiencies identified in the reports returned by the tool.
posted by btchakir at 11:28 AM
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