ACCESSIBILITY, UX, INCLUSION, E-COMMERCE

Accessibility Audit

End-to-end accessibility audit of 7 e-commerce websites to ensure compliance with WCAG 2.1 and EN 301 549 standards, from research and testing to client presentation and roadmap definition.

accessibility project cover

Timeline

1 week(august 2025)

Team

Independent project — I managed all phases of the audit.

My Role

Accessibility Auditor, UX Designer, Researcher, Client Presenter

Challenge

Assess the accessibility of a large e-commerce, interpret semi-automatic tool results, validate them manually by analyzing code, and translate complex WCAG guidelines into clear, business-relevant insights for clients.

Solution

Conducted a complete audit: studied WCAG 2.1, used and compared outputs of different tools, analyzed the code to verify issues, prioritized problems by urgency, and created a detailed illustrated report. Presented the results to stakeholders, answered questions, and co-defined a roadmap for implementing fixes.

Overview

I conducted a complete accessibility audit of pastadimartino.it, a large e-commerce website, to evaluate its compliance with WCAG 2.1 (A/AA) and the EN 301 549 European standard.

The process covered the homepage, menu, and footer, analyzing about 40 success criteria. The result: 74% compliance, with 8 critical issues identified that could block users relying on assistive technologies.

report overview

Methodology

I managed the audit end-to-end, ensuring both technical depth and practical outcomes:

  • Studied WCAG 2.1 rules and EN 301 549 requirements
  • Analyzed all 86 accessibility testing tools recommended by the W3C website
  • Selected the 7 most reliable tools for my analysis
  • Compared outputs across tools to validate results
  • Conducted manual code inspection to confirm real issues
  • Classified issues by Critical / High / Medium / Low urgency
  • Documented each issue with annotated screenshots
  • Presented results to clients, answered their questions, and defined together the roadmap for fixes

analysis

Studied WCAG standards

analysis

Tools + manual validation

analysis

Report + client presentation

Findings

The audit revealed 74% compliance with accessibility standards.

  • 8 Critical issues
  • 6 High issues
  • 3 Medium issues
  • 1 Low issue

compliance chart

Critical Issues

Some of the most impactful issues included:

  • 1.4.3 Contrast: 35 elements failed minimum 4.5:1 ratio
  • 2.1.1 Keyboard navigation: interactive elements only worked with mouse
  • 2.4.7 Focus indicator: missing visible focus on carousel
  • 3.3.2 Form labels: missing labels for privacy checkbox
  • 4.1.1 Unique IDs: duplicate IDs created confusion
  • 4.1.2 Roles/States: missing ARIA roles, divs used as buttons

Recommendations

To improve compliance and inclusivity, I recommended:

  • Redesign colors to meet WCAG contrast ratios
  • Ensure all interactive elements are keyboard accessible
  • Add visible focus indicators
  • Apply semantic HTML and correct ARIA roles
  • Label all form fields and checkboxes

Impact

The audit increased awareness of accessibility among stakeholders.

Developers prioritized quick fixes (contrast, keyboard navigation), and the methodology has since been reused for other client e-commerce platforms, embedding accessibility in the workflow.

impact

Reflection

This project reinforced that accessibility is not just about compliance, but about building better user experiences for everyone. Leading the entire process, from research to client alignment, allowed me to turn technical guidelines into business value and real usability improvements.

Project Infos

Officina idee - Head of Design

June 2025 - now
Indipendent audit, report and presentation