8 criteria appear in both columns: the machine gives a first verdict, the wizard confirms the substance (whether an alt, a page title or a label is actually relevant).
1 Images 9 criteria
Auto : 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.8, 1.9Wizard : 1.3, 1.6, 1.7
A parser sees a missing alt (1.1) instantly. It will never know whether alt="banner" actually describes the revenue chart below it — that's criterion 1.3, and a human decides. CAPTCHAs (1.4, 1.5) are out of scope: you have to try the alternative to know if it works.
See the 9 "Images" criteria →2 Frames 2 criteria
Auto : 2.1, 2.2
The only fully automatable theme. An iframe has a title, or it doesn't. Our two rules check presence, then reject empty titles and the classic title="iframe" or title="widget".
See the 2 "Frames" criteria →3 Colours 3 criteria
Auto : 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
All 3 criteria get a verdict: a contrast ratio is pure arithmetic. But let's be precise about the limit — our rules read colours declared in inline styles, not those coming from an external stylesheet, and text sitting on a background image or a gradient escapes static computation anyway. Our contrast checker lets you replay a colour pair by hand.
See the 3 "Colours" criteria →4 Multimedia 13 criteria
Auto : 4.1, 4.3, 4.7, 4.10, 4.11Wizard : 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.13
The most expensive theme to audit. We detect a missing <track kind="captions"> (4.3) or uncontrollable autoplay (4.10). No machine can verify that captions are synchronised and complete (4.4): you have to watch the video. The wizard walks you through it, line by line.
See the 13 "Multimedia" criteria →5 Tables 8 criteria
Auto : 5.1, 5.4, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8Wizard : 5.2, 5.5
We check for <caption> (5.4), for <th> and their scope (5.6, 5.7), and that a layout table has no <th> (5.8). Whether the summary and caption are relevant (5.2, 5.5) requires reading the table. 5.3, linearising a layout table, stays out of scope.
See the 8 "Tables" criteria →6 Links 2 criteria
Auto : 6.1, 6.2Wizard : 6.2
Two criteria, but the classic French trap: "Learn more" repeated 14 times on one page. Our link-pertinent rule flags it automatically. 6.2 also goes through the wizard, because a link label can be explicit inside its paragraph and unreadable out of context.
See the 2 "Links" criteria →7 Scripts 5 criteria
Auto : 7.1, 7.3, 7.5
We catch the <div onclick> with no ARIA role, positive tabindex, and status messages without aria-live (7.5). But 7.2 and 7.4 require actually using the component: a homemade dropdown can carry role="menu" and still be untraversable by keyboard. A static scan does not click.
See the 5 "Scripts" criteria →8 Mandatory elements 10 criteria
Auto : 8.1, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.9, 8.10Wizard : 8.2, 8.4, 8.6, 8.8
The best automatically covered theme: doctype (8.1), lang on <html> (8.3) and its validity (8.4), <title> presence (8.5), inline language changes (8.7). What remains: code validity (8.2) and page title relevance (8.6) — "Home" is a title that exists and helps nobody.
See the 10 "Mandatory elements" criteria →9 Information structure 4 criteria
Auto : 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4Wizard : 9.2, 9.4
We see the H2 → H4 level skip and the missing <h1> (9.1). What we don't see: a <main> wrapped around the nav, or a product list marked up as <div>. Document structure (9.2) means comparing what is displayed with what is marked up — the wizard viewer puts both side by side.
See the 4 "Information structure" criteria →10 Information presentation 14 criteria
Auto : 10.1, 10.4, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8Wizard : 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.5, 10.10, 10.11, 10.12, 10.13, 10.14
This is where the gap is most brutal: only 5 criteria out of 14 get an automated verdict. We detect outline:none with no alternative (10.7), an unstyled link inside a paragraph (10.6), a user-scalable=no in the viewport meta (10.4). But reflow at 320px (10.11) and text spacing (10.12) require resizing a real window. Nine criteria go to the wizard.
See the 14 "Information presentation" criteria →11 Forms 13 criteria
Auto : 11.1, 11.2, 11.5, 11.6, 11.8, 11.9, 11.10, 11.13Wizard : 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.7, 11.11, 11.12
The unlabelled field (11.1) is our most frequent detection, and the easiest to fix. We also see missing autocomplete (11.13) and unmarked required fields (11.10). But knowing whether an error message actually suggests a correction (11.11) means submitting the form with bad values: that's the wizard. And we do not yet scan pages behind authentication.
See the 13 "Forms" criteria →12 Navigation 11 criteria
Auto : 12.1, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8, 12.9Wizard : 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 12.5, 12.10, 12.11
We check the two navigation systems (12.1), landmark regions (12.6), the skip link (12.7) and consistent tab order (12.8). Menu consistency across pages (12.2) and sitemap relevance (12.4) require comparing several pages: our crawl fetches up to 20, the verdict stays human.
See the 11 "Navigation" criteria →13 Consultation 12 criteria
Auto : 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.7, 13.8, 13.10Wizard : 13.6, 13.9, 13.11, 13.12
Auto-refresh (13.1), unannounced new windows (13.2) and a downloadable PDF without an accessible version (13.3) come straight out of the scan. The rest is physical: stopping blinking content (13.6), cancelling a gesture (13.11), rotating the screen (13.12). And two criteria are covered by neither engine — 13.4 (accessible office document) and 13.5 (ASCII art, emoticons). We would rather say so.
See the 12 "Consultation" criteria →