Smartphones have proved to be a significant part of our daily routines. This has transformed sports, healthcare, research, business, education, and communication etc. As an outcome, the number of companies investing in mobile-friendly apps and websites has increased rapidly.
Nevertheless, majority of the mobile digital products are not that accessible. This results in a loss in business prospects and increases possible legal issues for the owners. In this article, we will dive into the significance of mobile accessibility and provide best practices for testing the accessibility of iOS websites and apps.
Understanding The Concept and Significance of Mobile Accessibility
Mobile accessibility is the procedure of guaranteeing that apps and websites can be accessed by everyone. This is important, especially for people who have disabilities. This is because mobile technologies offer them with increased access to digital services and tools.
Unluckily, the majority of the apps and websites still lack accessibility. This results in excluding users with disabilities from full consumption of online resources. Hence, selecting mobile accessibility develops are more inclusive society. In addition, it enables the originations and businesses to expand their user base. Accessibility testing is for both iOS and Android apps. In this article, we will just focus on iOS apps.
IOS Accessibility Testing
The accessibility of iOS devices can be tested by incorporating third-party or built-in testing tools. iOS software testing companies ensure that all teammates should know the iOS accessibility features introduced on this site. This creates a flawless link between the user requirements and the app implementations. The tester needs to see all the features like an important human-made element for the comfort of the user. Not only must the design, testing area, or implementation, but all decisions be predominantly adopted to offer an outstanding user experience (UX).
Incorporating iOS built-in Accessibility Features: The iOS devices have wide-ranging built-in accessibility features. It incorporates the Assistivetouch feature for people with physical disabilities, the zoom magnification feature, and the voiceover screen reader. You can incorporate these tools to check the accessibility of your mobile app or website for users with various sorts of disabilities.
Incorporating additional Accessibility Testing Tools: Accessibility inspector is one of the very popular accessibility QA testing tools. It enables you to assess the accessibility of your app and offers suggestions for enhancing its accessibility. This tool can be used from Xcode. It is an integrated development environment (IDE) for iOS apps. Other popular and trustworthy tools to assess the accessibility of your iOS apps incorporate WebInspector and a11yTools.
It is very important to assess the accessibility of a mobile app or website for wide-ranging disabilities. There is no signal method or tool that can test every side of accessibility. Therefore, experts recommend incorporating a combination of third-party and built-in tools to attain an in-depth understanding of the app’s and website’s accessibilities.
5 Steps To Conduct Mobile Accessibility Testing
There are numerous web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines offer an international standard for guaranteeing that apps and websites are accessible to all people. Following these guidelines is an extremely complicated process. Therefore, we have constructed a five-step framework that can be used to maximize mobile testing for iOS.
Provide Optimized Content for Various Screen Sizes
While assessing your mobile app or website for accessibility, different screen sizes must be kept under consideration. You must guarantee that the website incorporates a responsive design that robotically resizes content based on the orientation of the device. In addition, assess the touch controls and default text size. They must be large enough to decrease the requirement for users to enlarge the content as per their requirements.
You Must Check That There Is Sufficient Color Contrast
Mobile apps and websites with good color contrast allow all users to read the text with any color background. WCAG allows incorporating a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 between background and text colors. One of the most preferred techniques is to use the black and display mode. You perhaps need to increase the contrast ratio if the elements are difficult to differentiate.
Keep Simple App Gestures
Users navigate mobile apps and websites incorporating gestures on their touch screens. Difficult gesture controls that require various taps or fingers can be specifically complex for users with dexterity and motor disabilities. Hence, you must guarantee that your app and website incorporate simple gestures that need just one finger tap to conduct actions.
You Must Guarantee That Everything Functions Well With The Keyboard
As opposed to the popular belief, keyboards are not confined to the traditional laptops and desktops. The keyboards on Bluetooth are created to function flawlessly with modern Android and iOS devices. Therefore, you must make sure that your website or app is accessible to people who need or prefer incorporating a keyboard for different tasks on their smartphones.Â
Guarantee Consistent Templates and Layouts
Guaranteeing that the mechanism repeated across pages is shown in a reliable form. This is very important for the user experience. It includes elements like navigation bars, search forms, and logos. These must be arranged in such a way that every time a user uses the website; it always stays the same.
Conclusion
The significance of mobile accessibility testing is increasing day by day. This is because the number of smartphone users is also increasing. Nevertheless, majority of the business owners tend to overlook accessibility because of its high cost. However, providing an inaccessible app or a website can be even more expensive if you are litigated.
To avoid this, it is very important to develop web products that are accessible in the developmental procedure. If the website or an app is already launched, you must ensure that it fulfills the accessibility standards. So, it can be easily used by everyone.
