Accessibility digest

Introduction

How accessible is the freeCodeCamp web page at https://www.freecodecamp.org/?

This digest can help answer that question. Nine different tools (Alfa, ASLint, Axe, Equal Access, HTML CodeSniffer, Nu Html Checker, QualWeb, Testaro, and WAVE) tested the page to check its compliance with their accessibility rules. In all, the tools define about 915 rules, which are classified here into about 300 accessibility issues.

The results were interpreted to yield a score, with 0 being ideal. The score for this page was 1591, the sum of 280 for the count of issues, 1106 for specific issues, 65 for tool-by-tool ratings, 0 for the page preventing tools from running, 140 for browser warnings, and 0 for delayed page responses.

Issue summary

Itemized issues

The reported rule violations are itemized below, issue by issue. Additional details can be inspected in the full report.

Issue: CSS invalid

Impact: Document cannot be properly displayed

WCAG: 4.1

Score: 258

Violations of nuVal rules

Rule ^CSS: .+: .+ is not a .+ value.*$

Description: Invalid value in CSS

Count of instances: 14

Rule ^CSS: .+: only 0 can be a unit. You must put a unit after your number.*$

Description: Number in CSS is nonzero but has no unit

Count of instances: 2

Rule CSS: Parse Error.

Description: Invalid CSS

Count of instances: 9

Rule ^CSS: Unknown pseudo-element or pseudo-class :.+$

Description: Unknown pseudo-element or pseudo-class

Count of instances: 1

Rule ^CSS: .+: Parse Error.*$

Description: Invalid CSS

Count of instances: 60

Issue: page title missing

Impact: User is not informed of the topic of the document

WCAG: 2.4.2

Score: 124

Violations of aslint rules

Rule page_titleN

Description: Page title is missing or empty

Count of instances: 1

Violations of axe rules

Rule document-title

Description: Document contains no title element

Count of instances: 1

Violations of htmlcs rules

Rule AAA.2_4_2.H25.1.EmptyTitle

Description: Document head element contains an empty title element

Count of instances: 1

Violations of ibm rules

Rule page_title_exists

Description: Page has no title

Count of instances: 1

Issue: page language missing

Impact: Speaking helper may mispronounce the document text

WCAG: 3.1.1

Score: 124

Violations of wave rules

Rule language_missing

Description: Language missing or invalid

Count of instances: 1

Issue: h1 missing

Impact: User cannot understand the topic of the document

WCAG: 1.3.1

Score: 93

Violations of aslint rules

Rule h1_must_be

Description: Page contains no h1 element

Count of instances: 1

Violations of axe rules

Rule page-has-heading-one

Description: Document contains no level-one heading

Count of instances: 1

Issue: headings missing

Impact: User cannot survey parts of the document

WCAG: 1.3.1

Score: 93

Violations of aslint rules

Rule no_headings

Description: Document has no headings

Count of instances: 1

Violations of wave rules

Rule heading_missing

Description: Page has no headings

Count of instances: 1

Issue: page title invalid

Impact: Browser processes the document improperly

WCAG: 1.3.1

Score: 93

Violations of wave rules

Rule title_invalid

Description: Missing or uninformative page title

Count of instances: 1

Issue: main missing

Impact: User cannot get help on how some of the document is organized

WCAG: 1.3.6

Score: 62

Violations of axe rules

Rule landmark-one-main

Description: page has no main landmark

Count of instances: 1

Issue: no landmarks

Impact: User cannot get help on how the document is organized

WCAG: 1.3.6

Score: 62

Violations of wave rules

Rule region_missing

Description: Page has no regions or ARIA landmarks

Count of instances: 1

Issue: code obsolete

Impact: Document contains code that is no longer standard

WCAG: 4.1

Score: 57

Violations of ibm rules

Rule element_attribute_deprecated

Description: Element or attribute is obsolete

Count of instances: 19

Issue: large visible-element count

Impact: User cannot easily find items in the document

WCAG: 2.4

Score: 31

Violations of testaro rules

Rule bulk

Description: Page contains many visible elements

Count of instances: 1

Issue: text contrast poor

Impact: Text is difficult to read

WCAG: 1.4.3

Score: 20

Violations of qualWeb rules

Rule QW-ACT-R37

Description: Text has less than the minimum contrast

Count of instances: 5

Issue: line height low

Impact: Text is difficult to read

WCAG: 1.4.8

Score: 18

Violations of alfa rules

Rule r73

Description: Text line height is not at least 1.5

Count of instances: 9

Issue: font size absolute

Impact: User cannot adjust the text size for readability

WCAG: 1.4.4

Score: 12

Violations of alfa rules

Rule r74

Description: Paragraph text has an absolute font size

Count of instances: 4

Violations of qualWeb rules

Rule QW-WCAG-T28

Description: Percent, em, or name is used for a font size

Count of instances: 6

Issue: nav links not list

Impact: User cannot get help recognizing a list of navigation links

WCAG: 1.3.1

Score: 10

Violations of qualWeb rules

Rule QW-WCAG-T32

Description: ol, ul or dl is not used for a list or group of links

Count of instances: 5

Issue: line height absolute

Impact: User cannot adjust the line height of text for readability

WCAG: 1.4.12

Score: 8

Violations of alfa rules

Rule r80

Description: Paragraph text has an absolute line height

Count of instances: 4

Issue: text fully justified

Impact: Text is difficult to read

WCAG: 1.4.8

Score: 6

Violations of alfa rules

Rule r71

Description: Paragraph text is fully justified

Count of instances: 3

Issue: text distortion

Impact: Text is difficult to read

WCAG: 3.1.5

Score: 6

Violations of testaro rules

Rule distortion

Description: Element text is distorted by a transform style property

Count of instances: 6

Issue: text contrast improvable

Impact: Text is difficult to read

WCAG: 1.4.6

Score: 5

Violations of qualWeb rules

Rule QW-ACT-R76

Description: Text has less than the enhanced minimum contrast

Count of instances: 5

Issue: focus indication poor

Impact: Keyboard-only user cannot choose an item to operate

WCAG: 2.4.7

Score: 4

Violations of alfa rules

Rule r65

Description: Element in the sequential focus order has no visible focus

Count of instances: 1

Issue: CSS bans rotation

Impact: User must read sideways after rotating a device

WCAG: 1.3.4

Score: 4

Violations of aslint rules

Rule orientation

Description: CSS media query specifies an orientation

Count of instances: 1

Issue: error reference invalid

Impact: User cannot correct a form error

WCAG: 3.3.1

Score: 4

Violations of qualWeb rules

Rule QW-ACT-R41

Description: Error message describes no invalid form field value

Count of instances: 1

Issue: image dubiously named

Impact: Helper may describe an image inadequately

WCAG: 1.1.1

Score: 4

Violations of qualWeb rules

Rule QW-WCAG-T8

Description: Text alternative is not an alternative

Count of instances: 4

Issue: z-index not zero

Impact: User cannot predict the effect of clicking

WCAG: 1.4

Score: 3

Violations of testaro rules

Rule zIndex

Description: Element has a nondefault z-index value

Count of instances: 3

Issue: title attribute empty

Impact: Hovering does not get the promised explanation of an item

WCAG: 1.3.1

Score: 1

Violations of nuVal rules

Rule Element title must not be empty.

Description: Element has an empty title attribute

Count of instances: 1

Issue: label location dubious

Impact: User may fail to notice the explanation of an item in a form

WCAG: 3.3.2

Score: 1

Violations of qualWeb rules

Rule QW-WCAG-T17

Description: label not positioned to maximize the predictability of the relationship

Count of instances: 1

Issue: justification possibly undefined

Impact: Text may be difficult to read

WCAG: 1.4.8

Score: 1

Violations of qualWeb rules

Rule QW-WCAG-T29

Description: Alignment either to the left or right is not specified in CSS

Count of instances: 1

Issue: hovering changes content

Impact: User cannot explore the document reliably with a mouse

WCAG: 3.2.5

Score: 1

Violations of testaro rules

Rule hover

Description: Hovering changes the page content

Count of instances: 1

Issue: noscript element possibly not equivalent

Impact: User who has disabled JavaScript may be denied some content

WCAG: 4.1

Score: 1

Violations of wave rules

Rule noscript

Description: noscript element may fail to contain an accessible equivalent or alternative

Count of instances: 1