Accessibility audit — WCAG review, report and fix plan
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At the end of an accessibility audit you should have a clear report: which WCAG issues are critical, where they are, how to fix them and what order to work in.
WebPro accessibility audits combine automated checks, keyboard testing, screen reader testing and a practical remediation plan. If you also need code and workflow checks, see the Drupal audit and testing service.
Why automated testing alone is not enough
Automated tools such as axe, Lighthouse and WAVE are fast and useful, but they find only a subset of accessibility issues. Many checks still require human judgement:
- Does alt text describe the image or just say "image"?
- Does the error message explain what went wrong?
- Is navigation logical to a screen reader user?
- Is the focus order sensible?
What an accessibility audit covers
The technical reference is the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 (opens in a new tab). The applicable legal or procurement requirement may specify a different version or standard, so the audit scope must state its reference explicitly.
1. Automated scan
Automated tests such as axe-core and Lighthouse are run on an agreed set of key pages and templates. This provides a quick overview and a baseline.
2. Keyboard navigation
The agreed user journeys are tested without a mouse. We check whether:
- Can every interactive element be reached with Tab?
- Is focus always visible?
- Are there no keyboard traps?
- Is the focus order logical?
3. Screen reader test
Key user journeys are tested with a screen reader, such as NVDA on Windows or VoiceOver on macOS. We check:
- Whether page structure is understandable when listened to
- Whether forms are usable
- Whether dynamic content is accessible
- Whether modal dialogs behave correctly
4. Visual assessment
- Colour contrast (at least 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text)
- Text size and scaling (does 200% zoom break the layout?)
- Moving content (animations, auto-advancing carousels)
5. Content assessment
- Quality of alt texts
- Link text ("read more" vs "read more about Drupal security")
- Form field labels
- Clarity of error messages
6. Technical code review
- Correct use of ARIA attributes
- Use of semantic HTML
- Document language attribute
- Skip navigation link
The result: an audit report
A good audit report contains:
Issues found sorted by priority (critical / significant / minor)
For each issue:
- Description: what is wrong
- Location: which page, which element
- WCAG criterion: which rule is violated
- Recommendation: how to fix it
Conformance assessment: whether the tested scope meets the relevant WCAG level and which issues prevent conformance
Prioritised action plan: what to fix first, what can wait
EAA 2025 and audit requirements
The European Accessibility Act applies from 28 June 2025 to specified products and services, including e-commerce, consumer banking and parts of transport and electronic communications. Its exact scope and exceptions depend on the service and organisation; the European Commission overview (opens in a new tab) summarises the covered categories. An accessibility audit can support the compliance assessment, but it is not legal advice.
An audit does not guarantee legal compliance; it identifies gaps in the tested scope. WCAG conformance can be reassessed after the findings have been fixed.
Our accessibility audit
Our Drupal accessibility audits combine automated checks, manual testing and a written report. See the audit service or contact us for a quote.
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