Chrome extensions for accessibility testing

Browser extensions are good at making accessibility problems visible while you work. They are not good at declaring a page “accessible” with one click. I use automated results as a list of things to investigate, then test the page with a keyboard and assistive technology.

This is the set of Chrome extensions I found useful for different parts of that job.

General page checks

WAVE, developed by WebAIM, adds icons and indicators directly to the page. It helps you inspect headings, landmarks, form labels, contrast, and other common issues in context. Analysis runs in the browser, so it can also inspect local, password-protected, and intranet pages.

The Siteimprove Accessibility Checker also highlights detected issues on the page, explains their effect, and suggests fixes. Keeping the problem next to the affected element is much nicer than matching a long report back to the DOM.

The ARC Toolkit sits inside Chrome DevTools and checks against requirements including WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, EN 301 549, and Section 508. It is useful for investigating individual failures alongside the code that caused them.

WCAG Accessibility Audit Developer UI exposes Google’s accessibility developer tools in a visual interface. It highlights failing elements, creates a report, and can suggest alternatives for low-contrast colours.

Running several automated tools may produce overlapping results. More extensions do not automatically mean a better audit; understand and verify each finding before changing the page.

Inspecting HTML and ARIA

Image Alt Text Viewer replaces images with their alternative text and marks images where it is missing. This gives you a quick sense of what a non-visual description of the page contains. It cannot judge whether the text is actually useful, so that part remains yours.

Visual ARIA displays ARIA roles and attributes on the page. It can help reveal unexpected nesting, live regions, widget roles, and focus-management details that are otherwise easy to miss.

Long Descriptions in Context Menu adds a context-menu item for opening long descriptions referenced by longdesc and aria-describedat. Those attributes reflect older approaches, but the tool can still be useful when reviewing a site that contains them.

Experiencing different visual settings

Spectrum simulates several types of colour vision deficiency. It is particularly helpful for charts and data visualisations, where two different series may become indistinguishable when colour is the only cue.

Color Enhancer lets a user adjust colours on web pages, including reducing colours that are difficult to distinguish.

High Contrast provides filters for increasing contrast, reversing black and white, or removing colour. Chrome’s own pages, including the Web Store, New Tab page, and settings, cannot be adjusted by the extension.

Caret Browsing lets you move through and select page text with the keyboard. It is useful in its own right, although it is not a replacement for testing the normal Tab order and activating every interactive control.

Extensions disappear, change names, and sometimes stop working as browsers evolve. The exact tool matters less than the habit: use it to expose a problem, inspect the underlying HTML and CSS, and then confirm the fix with a real interaction.