Testing your app for accessibility (Windows Phone)
[This article is for Windows 8.x and Windows Phone 8.x developers writing Windows Runtime apps. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation]
This topic is written particularly for Windows Phone Store app accessibility testing. For accessibility testing apps using Windows, see Testing your app for accessibility (HTML) or Testing your app for accessibility (XAML).
Here are some testing procedures to follow to ensure that your Windows Phone Store app is accessible.
Verify the contrast ratio of visible text
Use color contrast tools to verify that the visible text contrast ratio is acceptable. The exceptions include inactive UI elements, and logos or decorative text that doesn’t convey any information and can be rearranged without changing the meaning. See Meeting requirements for accessible text for more information on contrast ratio and exceptions. See Techniques for WCAG 2.0 G18 (Resources section) for tools that can test contrast ratios.
Note Some of the tools listed by Techniques for WCAG 2.0 G18 can't be used interactively with a Windows Runtime app. You may need to enter foreground and background color values manually in the tool, make screen captures of app UI and then run the contrast ratio tool over the screen capture image, or run the tool while opening source bitmap files in an image editing program rather than while that image is loaded by the app.
Verify your app in high contrast
Use your app while a high-contrast theme is active to verify that all the UI elements display correctly. All text should be readable, and all images should be clear. In cases where prominent high-contrast issues are not coming from themes or controls (such as from image files), provide separate versions to use when a high-contrast theme is active.
Verify your app with Ease of Access settings
Verify that you app can be used with Ease of Access features such as larger Text size, or Screen magnifier turned on. Make sure that all controls can be reached, all text is visible, and that no UI elements overlap when these settings are changed. If you find any issues, follow the guidelines for layout scaling and provide additional resources for different scaling factors. For more info, see UX guidelines for layout and scaling.
Verify main app scenarios by using Narrator
Use these steps to test your app using Narrator's touch mode:
Get familiar with the UI and explore the layout.
- Navigate through the UI by using single-finger swipe gestures. Use left or right swipes to move between items, and up or down swipes to change the category of items being navigated. Categories include all items, links, tables, headers, and so on. Navigating with single-finger swipe gestures is similar to navigating with Caps Lock + Arrow.
- Use tab gestures to navigate through focusable elements. A three-finger swipe to the right or left is the same as navigating with Tab and Shift + Tab on a keyboard.
- Spatially investigate the UI with a single finger. Drag a single finger up and down, or left and right, to have Narrator read the items under your finger. You can use the mouse as an alternative because it uses the same hit-testing logic as dragging a single finger.
- Read the entire window and all its contents with a three finger swipe up. This is equivalent to using Caps Lock + W.
If there is important UI that you cannot reach, you may have an accessibility issue.
Interact with a control to test its primary and secondary actions, and its scrolling behavior.
Primary actions include things like activating a button, placing a text caret, and setting focus to the control. Secondary actions include actions such as selecting a list item or expanding a button that offers multiple options.
- To test a primary action: Double tap, or press with one finger and tap with another.
- To test a secondary action: Triple tap, or press with one finger and double tap with another.
- To test scrolling behavior: Use two-finger swipes to scroll in the desired direction.
Some controls provide additional actions. To display the full list, enter a single four-finger tap.
If a control does not respond to a primary or secondary touch interaction, the control might need to implement additional UI Automation control patterns, or you might not be using an appropriate control for a Windows Phone Store app.