Silktide and WCAG compliance
Silktide makes it faster and easier to improve your web accessibility compliance at scale, combining automated checks with straightforward tools to assist your team with any accessibility issues requiring human review.
Our checks cover accessibility guidelines from:
WCAG 2.0 (A, AA, and AAA levels)
WCAG 2.1 (A, AA, and AAA levels)
WCAG 2.2 (A, AA, and AAA levels)
What are automated and assisted checks?
Automated checks are great at catching straightforward issues, like missing descriptions for images or poor text color contrast, which are common barriers for people with disabilities.
When it comes to more nuanced aspects of a website — such as whether text alternatives convey the right information, or if a website's structure is logically presented — computer systems and automated checks can fall short.
This is where Silktide's "assisted" checks step in. They organize the relevant data for you in a way that speeds up the manual review process, making it easier to dive into and resolve those complex issues.
It's about striking a balance: leveraging automation for efficiency and relying on human insight for depth, ensuring websites are not just technically compliant, but genuinely accessible.
The importance of manual testing
Manual testing holds a crucial spot in ensuring websites are truly accessible. It adds a necessary layer of human insight, ensuring that websites are not only technically compliant, but genuinely usable and inclusive.
While automated tools do a stellar job at spotting many issues at scale, they can't fully grasp the human experience. That's where manual testing comes in — it's about putting yourself in someone else's shoes to understand how accessible a website really is. This process involves real people navigating a site as various users might, including those who rely on assistive technologies.
From checking if video captions make sense in context, to ensuring that a site can be navigated smoothly with keyboard commands alone, manual testing adds the human touch that technology alone can't replicate. It's not just about ticking boxes for compliance, it's about creating a web that's genuinely inclusive, where everyone can participate, learn, and connect.
Silktide's WCAG checks
Below is the complete list of Silktide's automated and assisted checks, including everything we provide to ensure compliance up to WCAG 2.2 AAA standards.
Contents
1. Perceivable
1.1 Text Alternative Perceivable
Automated Checks
Specify alternative text for image buttons
Combine adjacent links with the same destination
Specify alternative text for appropriate images
Images with empty alternative text must not specify titles
Ensure PDFs are machine readable
Specify alternative text for images inside links
Avoid alternative text that is the same as adjacent text
Assisted Checks
Ensure alternative text is appropriate
Ensure alternative text for submit buttons is appropriate
Check images have been correctly defined as decorative
1.2 Time-based Media
Assisted Checks
Ensure prerecorded audio has text alternative
Ensure prerecorded video has text alternative
Automated Checks
Ensure captions are provided for all prerecorded audio and video
Assisted Checks
Ensure prerecorded media has a description or text alternative
Assisted Checks
Ensure captions are provided for all live audio
Assisted Checks
Ensure prerecorded media has a description
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
1.3 Adaptable
Automated Checks
Ensure every page contains a top-level heading
Ensure form controls have labels
Write lists or groups of links semantically
Fix missing ARIA description IDs
Fix missing ARIA label IDs
Tag all PDFs
Ensure the first heading in a PDF is a H1
Ensure PDF headings follow a logical order
Specify headings for every PDF
Ensure headings include text
Ensure labels in the document fragment point to valid IDs
Ensure labels in the document point to valid IDs
Fix incorrect table headers attribute
Add a scope to table headings
Fix table where summary and caption are identical
Add IDs to applicable table headers
Add headers to tables
Ensure dialogs have labels
Add a legend for all fieldsets
Wrap items with the same name inside a fieldset
Remove obsolete scope attribute for table cell
Assisted Checks
Check if text should be marked as a heading
Consider using summary attributes on tables
Assisted Checks
Ensure HTML is in a meaningful sequence
Ensure PDF content is in a meaningful sequence
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Automated Checks
Identify the purpose of fields programmatically
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
1.4 Distinguishable
Automated Checks
Ensure links are distinguished by more than just color
Assisted Checks
Include audio controls where necessary
Automated Checks
Ensure text has sufficient contrast (AA)
Assisted Checks
Check PDFs have sufficient text contrast
Ensure text placed over images or gradients has sufficient contrast
Automated Checks
Ensure pinch-to-zoom is enabled
Assisted Checks
Use text to convey information where possible
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Automated Checks
Ensure pages don't scroll in two dimensions on small screens
Ensure pages don't require zooming and 2D scrolling on small screens
Automated Checks
Ensure form controls contrast sufficiently with their surroundings
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
2. Operable
2.1 Keyboard Accessible
Assisted Checks
Ensure functionality is available to keyboard users
Assisted Checks
Ensure applet or plugin provides ability to move the focus away from itself
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
2.2 Enough Time
Automated Checks
Avoid delayed meta refresh tags
Automated Checks
Remove blinking elements
Assisted Checks
Ensure users can pause or hide animated content
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
2.3 Seizures and Physical Reactions
Automated Checks
Check pages for three flashes (Level A)
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
2.4 Navigable
Automated Checks
Avoid linking to anchors that do not exist
Allow users to quickly skip to content
Specify a title for all frames
Assisted Checks
Check that each frame has an appropriate title
Automated Checks
Improve weak PDF titles
Ensure PDFs have a title
Ensure all pages have a title
Assisted Checks
Check that each page has an appropriate title
Assisted Checks
Ensure custom tabbing order makes sense
Automated Checks
Ensure links explain their purpose
Avoid using the same link text for different destinations
Automated Checks
Ensure long PDFs use bookmarks to aid navigation
Assisted Checks
Ensure there are multiple ways to access a page
Assisted Checks
Check that headings and labels are descriptive
Automated Checks
Ensure controls change appearance when they are selected
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Automated Checks
Ensure focus is not fully obscured
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
2.5 Input Modalities
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Assisted Checks
Ensure drag and drop movements have an accessible alternative
Automated Checks
Ensure interactive components are far enough apart
3. Understandable
3.1 Readable
Automated Checks
Correct invalid language attributes for page
Ensure PDFs specify a default language
Specify the language of every page
Automated Checks
Correct invalid language attributes for parts
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
3.2 Predictable
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Automated Checks
Add a submit button to all forms
Assisted Checks
Ensure that navigation remains consistent
Assisted Checks
Ensure components are identified consistently
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Assisted Checks
Ensure help is presented consistently
3.3 Input Assistance
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Assisted Checks
Ensure labels or instructions are provided when content requires user input
Assisted Checks
Ensure suggested corrections are provided where applicable
Assisted Checks
Check if an error prevention mechanism is required (for legal, financial, data)
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
Assisted Checks
Ensure login is accessible
Ensure login is accessible (without exception)
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.
4. Robust
4.1 Compatible
Automated Checks
Ensure links can be used by screen readers
Silktide does not currently have a check for this guideline.