How do you test and audit accessibility properly?
Assesses fundamental understanding of Web Accessibility conventions, runtime behavior, and memory/performance considerations.
Hiring managers look for precision, avoidance of ambiguous jargon, and ability to explain trade-offs under real production conditions.
Automated tools catch roughly a third of issues, so a complete audit combines them with manual and assistive-technology testing. Static checks include axe DevTools, Lighthouse, WAVE and lint plugins such as eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y or eslint-plugin-vuejs-accessibility in CI. These find missing alt text, contrast failures, missing labels and invalid ARIA.
Manual checks cover what tools cannot judge: meaningful reading order, sensible heading structure, keyboard-only operation of every flow, visible and logical focus, clear error identification and suggestions, and whether alt text actually describes the image's purpose.
Test with real assistive technology: NVDA or JAWS on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, TalkBack on Android. Navigate by headings, landmarks, links and form fields, and try completing core tasks with the screen reader on. Include users with disabilities where possible.
Document conformance against WCAG 2.2 AA, track issues, and add regression tests so fixes do not break. Accessibility is a continuous practice, not a one-time audit.
Candidate Response Strategy & Interview Tips
- Start with a concise one-sentence summary: Deliver a direct, confident answer first before expanding into nuances.
- Demonstrate real-world trade-offs: Discuss where this approach excels and when you would avoid it in production systems.
- Discuss complexity & edge cases: Proactively explain time/space complexity or boundary conditions (null values, scale limits).
- Prepare for interviewer follow-ups: Technical hiring panels frequently probe deeper into concurrency, backward compatibility, or alternative libraries.