Manual Testing for Non-UIS-Themed Websites

Manual testing is necessary for all sites that are not using the UIS-managed themes. If your site is using the UIS-managed themes, please review the instructions for UIS-themed websites.

New non UIS-themed websites must submit the Manual Accessibility Testing Checklist (new window) before they can launch. This will require the following types of manual testing in the latest version of the four major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.

What Should I Test?

You don’t need to test every page on your site, especially if it is a larger site comprised of hundreds or even thousands of web pages. However, your testing should capture a large enough subset of pages that it is representative of the different kinds of pages used throughout the site. If you test the navigation, review the overall structure, and follow our guidance for the home page and a few pages of each template you use, you will be in good shape.

Keyboard Navigability

As soon as you load a page, start tabbing through the elements on the page and test for the following things:

• Tab order
  You can tab through items from left to right, top to bottom.
• Tab ability
  You should be able to tab through the entire page, without getting stuck.
• Focus outline
  All focused items are outlined and the outline is obviously visible (i.e. the outline should contrast well with the background).
• Focused element
  The focused item should be visible.
• Skip links
  Skip links exist and are visible when they have focus. Usually, skip links will be the first tabbable element on the page.
• Off-canvas navigation
  If there is an off-canvas navigation panel, you should be able to open the navigation, tab through the links inside of it, and close the navigation all with the keyboard.
• Hover navigation (mega menu)
  If there are navigation menus that a mouse user would see on hover, then you should be able to see the navigation by pressing the down arrow, tab through the links inside of that panel, and exit the navigation by pressing the up arrow.
• Keyboard Accessibility resources from WebAIM (new window)

Screen reader readability

Turn on your screen reader of choice. Have the reader read through the page sequentially and test for the following things:

• All content is read
  The screen reader should not get stuck at any point.
• Hidden content is not read
  For example, the off-canvas navigation or a hidden search form should only be read by the screen reader when that element is actually visible on the page.
• The content that is read makes sense
  The biggest issues here are things like phone numbers, dates, abbreviations in general.