Carnegie Mellon University
Office of the CIO  ›  Digital Accessibility Office  ›  Content Accessibility Tools  ›  Website Accessibility Tools

Website Accessibility Tools

These tools allow you to check for web content accessibility. By enhancing everyone's user experience, you can create an inclusive online environment.

Automated Testing

Automated tools crawl website content and flag common errors based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). 

The WAVE Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE) is a helpful resource for checking your website's accessibility. Enter your page's URL or add the browser extension to Chrome, Firefox, or Edge. WAVE will evaluate your page and offer suggestions for improving its overall accessibility. 

ACCESS WAVE

SiteImprove AI is an integrated content intelligence platform designed to enhance digital experiences by combining accessibility, SEO, analytics, and content strategy into an end-to-end workflow for website development. This tool can help you create accessible content that is optimized for users and search engines.

Benefits

  • Helps ensure website content quality and compliance.
  • AI Generate improves content readability and inclusiveness while maintaining accuracy and tone.
  • Checks elements like color contrast to determine content accessibility across web and mobile contexts.
  • Generates suggested HTML fixes for flagged accessibility issues, such as missing ARIA roles or incorrectly built form fields.

Eligibility

  • Staff

Fees

  • There are no fees for this service. 

Request

  • Please email the Digital Accessibility Office at digital-access@cmu.edu to be added to CMU’s SiteImprove license. In your email, include the primary URL of the site you want to monitor and the Andrew userIDs of everyone who should have access to that site's report.

Resources

The Accessible Name & Description Inspector (ANDI) is a Section 508 compliance testing tool that works with most browsers. 

Access ANDI

Need Additional Support?

The Digital Accessibility Office is available to assist with testing. 

CONTACT US

Manual Testing

While automated testing is a great start, these tools will not catch every error. Manual testing is also recommended. 

Test with a screen reader to uncover issues with reading order, spelling, dynamic content, and interactive elements.

  • NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access) can be downloaded on Windows only. The NVDA User Guide is a helpful resource when getting started.
  • VoiceOver is a built-in macOS and iOS feature and can be turned on in Accessibility Settings. When choosing a browser, note that this tool works best in Safari. Browse this list of VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts.

Check that the text-to-background color contrast ratio is at least 4.5:1. A variety of free contrast checkers are available.

contrast-ratio.com
webaim.org