Starting next month, June 28, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) will require all companies operating in the EU to ensure that the digital channels they use to offer goods and services, such as websites, apps, e-commerce platforms, and financial services, are accessible.
For QA teams, this requires a shift in priorities, especially around how visual content is tested, according to Eric Portis, senior developer experience engineer at U.S.-based Cloudinary.
“While the EAA impacts many areas of accessibility, visual content presents unique testing challenges and opportunities,” said Portis.
“From images and icons to videos and layout, ensuring visual accessibility is essential, not just for compliance, but for inclusive digital experiences.”
QA teams must now broaden their testing to cover visual clarity, navigation, and alternative representations of content, Portis said as these key areas of visual content accessibility every QA process should address going forward in order to meet EAA requirements.
“With the EAA’s deadline approaching, QA teams need to operationalise accessibility testing.”
– Eric Portis
Firstly, there is image alt text, which is a written description embedded in an image’s HTML tag that serves as a crucial substitute for non-visual users.
Adding clear, meaningful alt text lets all kinds of people (and things) better understand a page: whether they’re a blind person using screen reader, a search engine indexing the page, or someone whose need for a non-visual representation is temporary – for instance, someone driving a car and having the page read aloud.
Managing alt text across large media libraries can be overwhelming, said Portis, “but AI tools can automate and streamline the process, and support QA efforts too, by allowing QA teams to easily audit content for gaps or inconsistencies.”
“After conducting audits, QA teams can use AI tools to generate first-pass descriptions for review, ensuring every piece of media has a baseline level of accessibility,” he pointed out.
Secondly, video will be high on the EAA agenda, as it is one of the best ways to share information and connect with people, Portis noted.
“However, not everyone experiences video in the same way. Without video player accessibility features, millions of people with hearing, vision, or mobility impairments may struggle to use it,” he said.
Accessible video players are essential for inclusive digital experiences. Key features include accurate captions and subtitles for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, audio descriptions for those with visual impairments, and keyboard navigation for users with limited mobility.
Screen reader compatibility, customisable playback controls – like volume, speed, contrast, and text size – and transcript availability all help ensure video content is usable and engaging for everyone.
“QA teams should ensure cross-device compatibility, verifying that players function smoothly across desktops, tablets, and mobile devices while supporting assistive tools like screen readers and page zoom”, said Portis.
“Most importantly, accessibility features should be tested not just with automated tools but with real users who rely on assistive technologies. This is where the most meaningful insights are found.”
“QA teams play a vital role in creating digital experiences that truly work for everyone.”
– Eric Portis
Moreover, QA teams play a key role in ensuring images and videos are accessible to those with visual impairments.
Dark mode, for instance, is essential for users with light sensitivity. While basic CSS solutions like invert can enable dark mode quickly, they also invert image colours, reducing clarity.
Contrast between images and overlaid text is another critical area. Manually maintaining the right contrast ratios is resource-intensive, yet essential to ensure readability across devices and backgrounds.
Colour accessibility is equally important. With over 300 million people worldwide affected by colour vision deficiency, relying on colour alone to convey meaning can exclude a significant number of users. QA teams should use simulation tools to test how images appear under various types of colour blindness, evaluate accessibility scores, and recommend alternatives when content is hard to perceive.
“By integrating colour and contrast checks into the QA process, the QA team helps ensure that a product’s visual content meets accessibility standards and delivers a truly inclusive user experience”, explained Portis.
Early testing
Finally, the EAA encourages organisations to embed accessibility from the beginning of the development process.
Portis supports this: “Accessibility shouldn’t be treated as a one-off audit right before launch. It needs to live in QA workflows, right alongside functional, performance, and security testing.”
He added: “Teams that are not testing for accessibility as they build and iterate, are missing the chance to catch critical issues early and putting the business at risk of noncompliance down the line.”
Also, then there is operationalising accessibility testing. If an organisation uses visual media at scale, AI-based tools help to automate many of the tedious tasks related to image/video accessibility, he noted.
However, these tools should integrate smoothly into automated QA pipelines for accessibility validation. While automation is valuable, manual testing still is crucial, particularly when evaluating the context and clarity of visual alternatives, checking focus order, or verifying the experience through real assistive technologies.
“With the EAA deadline approaching, QA teams need to operationalise accessibility testing, not just support it in theory”, Portis noted.
“That means integrating automated accessibility checks into CI/CD pipelines, running manual tests with real assistive tech, and treating accessibility bugs with the same urgency as broken features. The added bonus is that these practices also improve UX for everyone, not only users with disabilities.”
Finally, Portis was keen to stress that the EAA is more than merely a compliance exercise.
“It is a call to design with empathy. For QA teams, it signals a shift toward user-centred testing that prioritises visual inclusivity. By addressing visual accessibility early and often, QA teams play a vital role in creating digital experiences that truly work for everyone and deliver lasting value.”
He added: “Prioritising accessibility across design, development, and QA isn’t just about meeting legal requirements.”
Portis concluded by stressing that the “the EAA is about extending reach to more audiences, building brand trust and driving revenue. Ultimately, it’s about honouring the web’s core promise as a space where everyone can communicate, learn, and do business together.”
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