· Ed Dowding · Portfolio · 2 min read
Ableiue (Accessible Web Testing)
Automated accessibility testing and remediation platform helping development teams ship WCAG-compliant interfaces without accessibility expertise.
The Problem
Web accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1 AA) is legally required in many jurisdictions but technically complex. Developers lack a11y training. Manual audits cost £10-50K and are point-in-time snapshots. Automated tools (Lighthouse, axe) catch only ~30% of issues. Result: inaccessible products, lawsuits, and excluded users.
What I Built
Ableiue combines automated scanning with guided remediation workflows:
- CI/CD Integration: Accessibility tests in every PR with actionable feedback
- Intelligent Prioritization: Rank issues by severity and user impact (not just WCAG level)
- Code-Level Fixes: Suggest exact code changes with before/after previews
- Assistive Tech Simulation: Preview how screen readers/keyboard nav experience your site
Tech Stack
Puppeteer for browser automation, custom accessibility tree analysis, GitHub Actions integration, React Testing Library patterns.
Lessons Learned
30% Coverage Isn’t Enough: Automated tools miss semantic issues (tab order, focus management). Combining automated scans with crowdsourced manual testing (via disabled testers) caught 85%+ issues. Lesson: full automation is a myth in subjective domains like UX.
Developers Need Why, Not Just What: Flagging “missing alt text” without explaining impact got ignored. Showing “screen reader users hear ‘button’ 47 times with no context” motivated fixes. Lesson: empathy-driven error messages drive action better than compliance warnings.
A11y Sells as Risk Mitigation: Positioning as “inclusive design tool” got designer interest but no budget. Reframing as “lawsuit prevention” (£100K+ average settlement) closed CFO approvals. Lesson: different stakeholders need different value propositions.