Step 4: Document findings and assess issues

Document issues as you test.

• Identify and log each issue—you can choose to use the W3C template for accessibility evaluation reports.
• Describe the problem clearly, noting where and how it occurs, providing screenshots or videos if helpful.
• Assess who is affected by the issue and to what degree it impacts their ability to access content or functionality.
• Include notes about how someone else can replicate the errors.
• Assign a severity rating based on the level of impact for users.
• Prioritise issues, starting with critical and working down to low.
• Record in a tracking system for monitoring and resolution.

Severity rating

Severity ratings categorise how much an accessibility issue affects people, from minor inconvenience to a critical barrier that stops someone using the content—use the severity ratings guide to understand the impact and what to fix first.

Critical

• These issues make the website or app unusable for some users. If not fixed, some users won't be able to use the website or app at all. Fix immediately.
• For example, if a website’s main navigation is not accessible via keyboard, it would be impossible for users who rely on keyboard navigation to access different sections of the website.

High

• These issues make the website or app very difficult to use for users, but do not completely block all access to content or functionality. Prioritise and fix promptly.
• For example, a form that does not provide error messages to users, making it very difficult for users, including those with visual impairments, to correct and submit the form.

Medium

• These issues cause some difficulties on the website or app and it’s inconvenient, confusing and hard to complete, but not impossible to use. Schedule to fix after critical and high issues.
• An example might be colour contrast that is insufficient but not to the degree where text is unreadable for users with colour vision deficiencies.

Low

• These issues have minimal impact and might cause slight confusion or minor inconvenience, but the website or app is mostly useable. It's not impossible or significantly harder to use, complete tasks and understand, but users are likely to experience frustration. These need to be fixed but are not urgent.
• An example could be a lack of consistency in link colour, which does not prevent access but may lead to slightly slower navigation for some users.

With every change and update to the site testing must be completed to ensure that the platform and content is able to be used by everyone and conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is achieved. Regular and ongoing testing and remediation will be required throughout the entire life of the platform and content.