accessibility-testing

The accessibility-testing skill is a comprehensive toolkit designed for Quality Engineers to ensure applications meet global web accessibility standards. It serves as a central hub for implementing the POUR principles (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust) throughout the software development lifecycle, whether you are preparing for a legal audit (ADA, Section 508, EU Directive) or simply fostering a more inclusive digital environment for over 1 billion users worldwide.

• Automated WCAG 2.2 auditing leveraging powerful scanning engines like axe-core, pa11y, and Lighthouse to detect common violations automatically in CI/CD pipelines.

• Advanced screen reader validation and simulation, including support for VoiceOver, NVDA, and JAWS to ensure keyboard-only navigation is functional and screen reader semantic mappings are accurate.

• Strategic guidance on color contrast requirements (4.5:1 for standard text, 3:1 for large text/UI components) and focus state management for interactive elements.

• Full support for browser-based accessibility tree inspection using the qe-browser fleet skill and vibium, allowing for deep, non-visual tree analysis that surpasses basic DOM scanning.

• Integration capabilities for large-scale quality fleets, enabling developers to orchestrate complex testing sequences across different environments and device profiles.

• Prioritize using the a11y-ally skill for full-suite auditing, while falling back to Playwright + @axe-core/playwright for existing suites or scenarios requiring specific browser engine coverage.

• Ensure manual verification for critical user journeys; automated tests generally cover 30-50% of issues, but human testing remains mandatory for verifying screen reader interaction patterns.

• Use the provided checklists to validate alt text, form labels, landmarks, and ARIA attributes consistently across all new features.

• Leverage agentic coordination to generate comprehensive test reports and remediation guidance, mapping results back to WCAG success criteria to simplify the developer feedback loop.

• Maintain strict compliance with accessibility standards by treating accessibility as a core quality gate, refusing to merge code that introduces critical or serious violations into the main branch.