Tracking the accessibility score trend over releases is the next metric for understanding how well your product improves or declines in accessibility over time. This measures the number of accessibility issues across product releases, helping you evaluate how many issues a new release introduces and how many it resolves.
This one is quite simple. It tells you is how many accessibility issues a releases introduces and how many it solves. And as long as you track the types of issues thoroughly, it can also tell you if you're addressing long-standing issues or you're introducing regressions. These are accessibility issues that you previously fixed but reintroduced in the latest release.
Obviously, what you want to see is a steady decrease in issues. A downward trend indicates progress toward a more accessible product, while an increase signals that new problems are being introduced or old ones are returning.
Of the two types of issues (long-standing issues and regressions), regressions are the ones to watch out for. These occur when a previously fixed issue reappears in a new release. They're critical because they suggest that your development process is not effectively maintaining past improvements.
Task #1: Regularly monitor regressions to make sure that fixed issues stay fixed.
That being said, if you focus solely on fixing old issues without addressing new ones, that trend will eventually stagnate.
Task #2: Make sure you tackle issues you've know about for a while and have neglected.
So how do you measure the trend?
- After each release, use a combination of automated testing tools and manual audits to tally up accessibility issues.
- Track these issues in your issue tracker. Document whether they are new, recurring or resolved. This provides a clear picture of how many issues you’re solving over time and whether regressions are happening.
- Visualise the accessibility trend over multiple releases. This can help identify whether issues are trending up, down or staying flat.
Monitoring the accessibility score trend over product releases provides insight into how well your team is addressing accessibility issues and maintaining progress. It also can help inform your future development.