Digital Accessibility: Evaluation Tools for your Online Store at a glance
E-Commerce
From 28 June 2025, online stores in B2C must be digitally accessible. This means that you have to adapt your shop to the requirements of the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG). However, before you start making the necessary adjustments, you should know exactly what needs to be done. There are numerous tools available to help you do this. Today we present some of these helpful tools that can help you with your assessment. Important: These tools do not replace manual checks by experts and are therefore by no means equivalent to them. Rather, they serve as a useful supplement.
WAVE®
Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
WAVE® is a free tool from WebAIM.org for evaluating the accessibility of websites (e.g. alt texts for images, colour contrasts, ARIA labels, etc.). It provides visual feedback on accessibility by embedding icons and indicators directly into the analysed page. In addition, you get a summary of the results in the sidebar. To create a WAVE report, you can either use the browser extension or go directly to the WAVE website and enter the URL of the website to be analysed.
Google Lighthouse
Google Lighthouse, originally developed for testing Progressive Web Apps (PWA), is a comprehensive tool for analysing website quality. It carries out five audits, including performance, SEO and accessibility. For accessibility, key factors such as contrast, font size, labels, touch targets and alt text are checked. A score is determined based on the tests, accompanied by suggestions for improvement. As Google Lighthouse is part of the developer tools, it is available in every browser (Mac: Alt+Cmd+I, Win: Ctrl+Shift+J). It can also be installed as a browser plugin or npm package.
EXPERTE.DE Accessibility Test
EXPERTE.de offers an accessibility test that helps you to check whether your website is accessible for screen readers, whether by voice output or Braille display. The tool crawls your website and checks each subpage to see whether it can be used by blind and visually impaired people. A total of 41 features are evaluated in various categories such as navigation, ARIA attributes, labels, contrast, tables, media content and internationalisation to give you a comprehensive overview of the accessibility of your website.
BITV Self-Assessment of BIK
The BITV self-assessment is a free online tool for anyone who wants to develop accessible websites and follow the guidelines of the BITV test. The tool is provided by ‘BIK for All’, a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which informs the public about the advantages of an accessible Internet and demonstrates practical implementation options. BIK stands for ‘Barrier-free Information and Communication’. The BITV self-assessment is based on an online questionnaire with 98 test steps that are harmonised with the BITV test.
AudioEye Color Contrast Checker
AudioEye’s Colour Contrast Checker is a tool that measures the contrast between website elements such as background, foreground, text, images or documents to ensure that it complies with WCAG accessibility standards. This free tool is one of the most comprehensive on the internet and is accessible for use with keyboard navigation and voice commands.
HeadingsMap
HeadingsMap is a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that helps you to analyse the headings structure of your website. The add-on shows the heading elements (H1, H2, H3 etc.) in a hierarchical overview so that you can quickly recognise how the headings are used on your page. Inconsistencies such as missing or incorrectly arranged headings (e.g. if an H1 is missing or an H3 is in front of an H2) can be easily identified.
Further tools at W3C
You can find further tools for evaluating accessibility on the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) website. The W3C is a standardisation body for technologies on the World Wide Web and is responsible, among other things, for the WCAG, which serve as the basis for the implementation of the BFSG. Note: The software programmes and online services listed there come from various providers and the W3C does not recommend any specific products.
Conclusion: Accessibility Evaluation Tools
Although the digital accessibility assessment tools listed here can provide valuable support and initial insights into potential problems, they are no substitute for the in-depth expertise of professionals. These tools are to be understood as aids that perform automated tests, but do not fully cover all aspects of accessibility. For comprehensive and sustainable accessibility, experts who understand and can assess the individual requirements of users are indispensable. You should therefore interpret the results of these tools with caution and always have them supplemented by professional expertise. If you are looking for more valuable information on this topic, you should not miss our free online event on 5 November. The details and registration link can be found below.
Event tip
Do you need more practical information? Then don’t miss our free online event on this very topic: Introduction to digital accessibility. Our top expert will give you further insights into this important topic and the corresponding solutions.
When: 05.11.2024
Where: Conveniently online
Topic: Introduction to digital accessibility
Speaker: Tobias Roppelt, Managing Director of Gehirngerecht Digital
Time: 13.00 to 16.00 hrs
Registration: click here >>
Register now and become digitally accessible with your shop in 2025! We look forward to meeting you.
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