Accessibility scanning
Automated accessibility scanning for entire websites.WCAG, HTML and CSS checks in a single pass.
The A11y Scanner crawls a website page by page, checking every one against accessibility, HTML and CSS standards, then compiles the findings into a clear, actionable report.
What it does
Key features
The scanner crawls websites page by page, running each page through a series of validation engines that check against accessibility standards, HTML markup rules, and CSS specification compliance. Issues are collected, categorised by severity, and compiled into a clear report — enabling faster and more comprehensive coverage when checking a large number of URLs or an entire site, and giving development teams precise, actionable findings to work from.
Whole-site scanning
Crawls an entire website automatically, following every link from page to page. For a site with 50, 100 or 200 pages, nothing gets missed because of time constraints.
Multiple standards in one scan
Checks against WCAG 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 in a single scan — the guidelines behind UK, EU and international accessibility law. Choose which standards to test against to match a client's specific requirement.
Three types of checking
Goes beyond accessibility rules alone, covering all three of the following in one pass:
- Accessibility — tests against WCAG criteria using industry-standard axe-core rules
- HTML validation — checks markup against the W3C standard, catching structural issues that can interfere with assistive technologies
- CSS validation — checks stylesheets for errors and coding issues that can affect how a page is rendered
Precise issue location
Every finding shows exactly where it occurs: the element, whether it's visible without scrolling, and how far down the page. HTML and CSS issues include the line number, with optional screenshots of the affected element.
Findings sorted by impact
Issues are categorised Critical, Serious, Moderate or Minor and sorted accordingly, so a team can see immediately what needs fixing first.
Filterable results
Filter by severity, check type or page — a developer working on a specific template can quickly isolate just the issues relevant to them, and a project manager can see the overall picture.
Scan history
Every scan is stored. Go back to any previous scan, compare results across dates, and track whether issues have been resolved over time — particularly useful for ongoing accessibility retainer work.
Client-ready PDF reports
One click generates a professionally formatted PDF report: a summary of findings by severity, the full list of pages scanned with their issue counts, and a detailed findings table with links to remediation guidance for every issue.
Structured data export
Results are also exportable as CSV, for import into project tracking tools, spreadsheets, or any other system a development team already uses.
See it in action
Screenshots
For WebDepend clients
What this means for WebDepend clients
Faster, more thorough audits
Automated scanning handles the breadth — finding every instance of every issue across every page — freeing WebDepend's team to focus on the depth: the things automated tools can't catch, like whether content makes logical sense in a screen reader or whether a user journey can actually be completed without a mouse.
Actionable reports developers can use immediately
Rather than a list of general recommendations, reports include the exact page URL, the specific element, the line of code if relevant, and a direct link to detailed remediation guidance. A developer can open the report and start fixing without needing to investigate further.
Compliance coverage against current standards
WCAG 2.1 Level AA is currently the benchmark referenced in the UK Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations, the European Accessibility Act (effective June 2025), and most accessibility-related legal proceedings. The scanner tests against this standard as a default, and can include WCAG 2.2 for clients who want to get ahead of where standards are heading.
Ongoing monitoring
Accessibility can regress — a new feature, a CMS update, a new page template. Periodic re-scanning means issues are caught before they accumulate. For clients on a retainer, the scanner's history makes it easy to demonstrate progress over time.
Evidence for client-side teams
When WebDepend's recommendations need to be prioritised against a development team's existing workload, a clear report showing the number and severity of issues — with specific evidence for each — makes the case more effectively than a qualitative assessment alone.
Typical findings
The types of issues it finds
Some representative examples of what the scanner typically uncovers:
- Images without alternative text (or with unhelpful alternative text)
- Buttons and links with no accessible label — a screen reader user hears "button" with no indication of what it does
- Colour contrast failures — text that doesn't meet the minimum contrast ratio against its background
- Form fields without proper labels
- Pages missing language declarations or document structure
- Keyboard navigation traps
- Invalid HTML that causes unpredictable behaviour in assistive technologies
- CSS errors that affect how content is rendered or announced
Changelog
Release notes
v0.4.0
2026-08-20- Added new method of starting a scan by scanning a sitemap to obtain list of URLs, including nested sitemaps.
- Results tidy-up to improve filtering of different results types, display accessibility pills for each A11y issue found, hide location column when filtering by CSS and HTML issue types and a few other fixes.
v0.3.0
2026-08-10- Add public /changelog page, version footer on every page, and an automatic Slack release announcement to #webdepend-labs.
- Ability to scan password-protected sites — basic auth (.htaccess style) for staging or test sites and login form access for live websites and web applications.
v0.2.2
2026-08-04- Improved CSV and PDF exports.
v0.2.1
2026-07-20- Styling updates.
v0.2.0
2026-07-18- Ability to rescan previous scans — prepopulates the scanner fields with the same URLs and settings as the past scan.
- Ability to export results by CSV or PDF.
v0.1.1
2026-07-17- Scanned page list stored for reference during scanning or when viewing results.
v0.1.0
2026-07-10- Added HTML validation using the Nu Markup Checker.
- Added CSS validation using W3C compliance checks and linting.
- Google OAuth authentication for WebDepend team members.
- Full scan history with per-scan detail views.
- Severity and type filtering on results.
- All findings persisted to a PostgreSQL database.
v0.0.2
2026-07-04- Proof of concept deployed to a11y.webdepend.dev.
- Ability to stop in-progress scans.
- Ability to capture screenshots of issues.
v0.0.1
2026-06-30- Initial proof of concept.