I hope I convinced you with my last article that there's more to accessibility testing than just coverage.
If so, you might have started to shift your thinking already. You're not chasing coverage anymore. You're asking what actually matters.
And now you're stuck. Because your product likely has hundreds of pages and thousands of interactive elements. Where do you even focus your accessibility testing?
You can't test everything. Instead, test these three things ruthlessly.
Keyboard navigation and tab order
A keyboard user opens your product and hits Tab. Can they reach every button and link? If a pop-up window appears, can they get out of it using just their keyboard?
This is important because many people with physical disabilities, and everyone who uses a screen reader, uses the keyboard to navigate. I've seen many products where the tab order was mixed up or where users would get trapped in a part of the page.
The only way to check this is by hand. Put your mouse away and try to use everything with only your keyboard. If you get stuck, your users will too.
Screen reader support
Now, imagine a user who is blind opens your product with a screen reader. What do they hear?
Do your images have helpful descriptions or does the screen reader just say "Screenshot 2025-11-18 at 14.43.22.png?" Do your links make sense or do they just say "click here" over and over? Can a user easily figure out what to type into a form field?
Automated tools can't help you much here. A tool can check if an image has a description, but it can't tell you if the description is useful. The only way to know for sure is to turn on a screen reader and listen to what it says.
Dynamic content
Sometimes, content on a page updates without the page reloading. A new notification might pop up or an image gallery might start sliding.
For someone using a screen reader, this can be very confusing. If you suddenly change what's on the screen or move their cursor without warning, you can make them feel lost. You can test this by using your product with a screen reader and watching for these content updates.
Focusing on these three things will catch the most serious accessibility problems. If you get these right, you've built a strong base already.