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• FFmpeg RTSP drop rate increases when frame rate is reduced

  13 avril 2024, par Avishka Perera

  I need to read an RTSP stream, process the images individually in Python, and then write the images back to an RTSP stream. As the RTSP server, I am using Mediamtx [1]. For streaming, I am using FFmpeg [2].

  


  I have the following code that works perfectly fine. For simplification purposes, I am streaming three generated images.

  


  import time
import numpy as np
import subprocess

width, height = 640, 480
fps = 25
rtsp_server_address = f"rtsp://localhost:8554/mystream"

ffmpeg_cmd = [
    "ffmpeg",
    "-re",
    "-f",
    "rawvideo",
    "-pix_fmt",
    "rgb24",
    "-s",
    f"{width}x{height}",
    "-i",
    "-",
    "-r",
    str(fps),
    "-avoid_negative_ts",
    "make_zero",
    "-vcodec",
    "libx264",
    "-threads",
    "4",
    "-f",
    "rtsp",
    rtsp_server_address,
]
colors = np.array(
    [
        [255, 0, 0],
        [0, 255, 0],
        [0, 0, 255],
    ]
).reshape(3, 1, 1, 3)
images = (np.ones((3, width, height, 3)) * colors).astype(np.uint8)

if __name__ == "__main__":

    process = subprocess.Popen(ffmpeg_cmd, stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
    start = time.time()
    exported = 0
    while True:
        exported += 1
        next_time = start + exported / fps
        now = time.time()
        if next_time > now:
            sleep_dur = next_time - now
            time.sleep(sleep_dur)

        image = images[exported % 3]
        image_bytes = image.tobytes()

        process.stdin.write(image_bytes)
        process.stdin.flush()

    process.stdin.close()
    process.wait()


  


  The issue is, that I need to run this at 10 fps because the processing step is heavy and can only afford 10 fps. Hence, as I reduce the frame rate from 25 to 10, the drop rate increases from 0% to 100%. And after a few iterations, I get a BrokenPipeError: [Errno 32] Broken pipe. Refer to the appendix for the complete log.

  


  As an alternative, I can use OpenCV compiled from source with GStreamer [3], but I prefer using FFmpeg to make the shipping process simple. Since compiling OpenCV from source can be tedious and dependent on the system.

  


  References

  


  [1] Mediamtx (formerly rtsp-simple-server) : https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx

  


  [2] FFmpeg : https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg

  


  [3] Compile OpenCV with GStreamer : https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx?tab=readme-ov-file#opencv

  


  Appendix

  


  Creating the source stream

  


  To instantiate the unprocessed stream, I use the following command. This streams the content of my webcam as and RTSP stream.

  


  ffmpeg -video_size 1280x720 -i /dev/video0  -avoid_negative_ts make_zero -vcodec libx264 -r 10 -f rtsp rtsp://localhost:8554/webcam


  


  Error log

  


  ffmpeg version 6.1.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2023 the FFmpeg developers&#xA;  built with gcc 12.3.0 (conda-forge gcc 12.3.0-5)&#xA;  configuration: --prefix=/home/conda/feedstock_root/build_artifacts/ffmpeg_1712656518955/_h_env_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_placehold_plac --cc=/home/conda/feedstock_root/build_artifacts/ffmpeg_1712656518955/_build_env/bin/x86_64-conda-linux-gnu-cc --cxx=/home/conda/feedstock_root/build_artifacts/ffmpeg_1712656518955/_build_env/bin/x86_64-conda-linux-gnu-c&#x2B;&#x2B; --nm=/home/conda/feedstock_root/build_artifacts/ffmpeg_1712656518955/_build_env/bin/x86_64-conda-linux-gnu-nm --ar=/home/conda/feedstock_root/build_artifacts/ffmpeg_1712656518955/_build_env/bin/x86_64-conda-linux-gnu-ar --disable-doc --disable-openssl --enable-demuxer=dash --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-libfreetype --enable-libharfbuzz --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libopenh264 --enable-libdav1d --enable-gnutls --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvpx --enable-libass --enable-pthreads --enable-vaapi --enable-libopenvino --enable-gpl --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libaom --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libxml2 --enable-pic --enable-shared --disable-static --enable-version3 --enable-zlib --enable-libopus --pkg-config=/home/conda/feedstock_root/build_artifacts/ffmpeg_1712656518955/_build_env/bin/pkg-config&#xA;  libavutil      58. 29.100 / 58. 29.100&#xA;  libavcodec     60. 31.102 / 60. 31.102&#xA;  libavformat    60. 16.100 / 60. 16.100&#xA;  libavdevice    60.  3.100 / 60.  3.100&#xA;  libavfilter     9. 12.100 /  9. 12.100&#xA;  libswscale      7.  5.100 /  7.  5.100&#xA;  libswresample   4. 12.100 /  4. 12.100&#xA;  libpostproc    57.  3.100 / 57.  3.100&#xA;Input #0, rawvideo, from &#x27;fd:&#x27;:&#xA;  Duration: N/A, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 184320 kb/s&#xA;  Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (RGB[24] / 0x18424752), rgb24, 640x480, 184320 kb/s, 25 tbr, 25 tbn&#xA;Stream mapping:&#xA;  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (rawvideo (native) -> h264 (libx264))&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX FMA3 BMI2 AVX2&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] profile High 4:4:4 Predictive, level 2.2, 4:4:4, 8-bit&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] 264 - core 164 r3095 baee400 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2022 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=hex subme=7 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=4 threads=4 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=10 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=23.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00&#xA;Output #0, rtsp, to &#x27;rtsp://localhost:8554/mystream&#x27;:&#xA;  Metadata:&#xA;    encoder         : Lavf60.16.100&#xA;  Stream #0:0: Video: h264, yuv444p(tv, progressive), 640x480, q=2-31, 10 fps, 90k tbn&#xA;    Metadata:&#xA;      encoder         : Lavc60.31.102 libx264&#xA;    Side data:&#xA;      cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 0/0/0 buffer size: 0 vbv_delay: N/A&#xA;[vost#0:0/libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01080] Error submitting a packet to the muxer: Broken pipe   &#xA;[out#0/rtsp @ 0x5e2ef8afd780] Error muxing a packet&#xA;[out#0/rtsp @ 0x5e2ef8afd780] video:1kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: unknown&#xA;frame=    1 fps=0.1 q=-1.0 Lsize=N/A time=00:00:04.70 bitrate=N/A dup=0 drop=70 speed=0.389x    &#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] frame I:16    Avg QP: 6.00  size:   147&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] frame P:17    Avg QP: 9.94  size:   101&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] frame B:17    Avg QP: 9.94  size:    64&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] consecutive B-frames: 50.0%  0.0% 42.0%  8.0%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] mb I  I16..4: 81.3% 18.7%  0.0%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] mb P  I16..4: 52.9%  0.0%  0.0%  P16..4:  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%  0.0%    skip:47.1%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] mb B  I16..4:  0.0%  5.9%  0.0%  B16..8:  0.1%  0.0%  0.0%  direct: 0.0%  skip:94.0%  L0:56.2% L1:43.8% BI: 0.0%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] 8x8 transform intra:15.4% inter:100.0%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] coded y,u,v intra: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% inter: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] i16 v,h,dc,p: 97%  0%  3%  0%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu:  0%  0% 100%  0%  0%  0%  0%  0%  0%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] Weighted P-Frames: Y:52.9% UV:52.9%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] ref P L0: 88.9%  0.0%  0.0% 11.1%&#xA;[libx264 @ 0x5e2ef8b01340] kb/s:8.27&#xA;Conversion failed!&#xA;Traceback (most recent call last):&#xA;  File "/home/avishka/projects/read-process-stream/minimal-ffmpeg-error.py", line 58, in <module>&#xA;    process.stdin.write(image_bytes)&#xA;BrokenPipeError: [Errno 32] Broken pipe&#xA;</module>

  


• What Is Ethical SEO & Why Does It Matter ?

  7 mai 2024, par Erin

  Do you want to generate more revenue ?

  Then, you need to ensure you have a steady stream of traffic flowing to your site.

  Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo are powerful mediums you can use to scale your business.

  Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of creating search engine-friendly content to draw in traffic to your website. But, if you aren’t careful, you could be crossing the line of ethical SEO into unethical SEO.

  In this article, we break down what ethical SEO is, why it’s important in business and how you can implement effective SEO into your business while remaining ethical.

  Let’s begin.

  What is ethical SEO ?

  Since the early days of the internet and search engines, business owners and marketers have tried using all kinds of SEO tactics to rank atop the search engines for relevant keywords.

  The problem ?

  Some of these practices are ethical, while others aren’t.

  What exactly is ethical SEO ?

  It’s the practice of optimising your website’s rankings in search engines by following search engine guidelines and prioritising user experience.

  

  Ethical SEO is also referred to as “white hat SEO.”

  On the other hand, businesses that break search engine rules and guidelines to “hack” their way to the top with faulty and questionable practices use unethical SEO, or “black hat SEO.”

  Ethical SEO aims to achieve higher rankings in search engines through sustainable, legitimate and fair methods.

  Black hat, or unethical SEO, aims to manipulate or “game” the system with deceptive strategies to bypass the search engine’s guidelines to rank higher.

  The two core branches of ethical SEO include :

  1. Strategies that align with search engine guidelines.
  2. Accessibility to broad audiences.

  Some examples of ethical SEO principles include :

  • Natural link building
  • Compliance with search engine guidelines
  • Establishing great user experiences
  • Creating reader-focused content

  By sticking to the right guidelines and implementing proper SEO practices, businesses can establish ethical SEO to generate more traffic and grow their brands.

  8 ethical SEO practices to implement

  If you want to grow your organic search traffic, then there’s no doubt you’ll need to have some SEO knowledge.

  While there are dozens of ways to “game” SEO, it’s best to stick to proven, ethical SEO techniques to improve your rankings.

  Stick to these best practices to increase your rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs), increase organic traffic and improve your website conversions.

  

  1. Crafting high-quality content

  The most important piece of any ethical SEO strategy is content.

  Forget about rankings, keywords and links for a second.

  Step back and think about why people go to Google, Bing and Yahoo in the first place.

  They’re there looking for information. They have a question they need answered. That’s where you can come in and give them the answer they want. 

  How ? In the form of content.

  The best long-term ethical SEO strategy is to create the highest-quality content possible. Crafting high-quality content should be where you focus 90% of your SEO efforts.

  2. Following search engine guidelines

  Once you’ve got a solid content creation strategy, where you’re producing in-depth, quality content, you need to ensure you’re following the guidelines and rules put in place by the major search engines.

  This means you need to stay compliant with the best practices and guidelines laid out by the top search engines.

  If you fail to follow these rules, you could be penalised, your content could be downgraded or removed from search engines, and you could even have your entire website flagged, impacting your entire organic search traffic from your site.

  You need to ensure you align with the guidelines so you’re set up for long-term success with your SEO.

  3. Conducting keyword research and optimisation

  Now that we’ve covered content and guidelines, let’s talk about the technical stuff, starting with keywords.

  In the early days of SEO (late 90s), just about anyone could rank a web page high by stuffing keywords all over the page.

  While those black hat techniques used to work to “game” the system, it doesn’t work like that anymore. Google and other major search engines have much more advanced algorithms that can detect keyword stuffing and manipulation.

  Keywords are still a major part of a successful SEO strategy. You can ethically incorporate keywords into your content (and you should) if you want to rank higher. 

  Your main goal with your content is to match it with the search intent. So, incorporating keywords should come naturally throughout your content. If you try to stuff in unnecessary keywords or use spammy techniques, you may not even rank at all and could harm your website’s rankings.

  4. Incorporating natural link building

  After you’ve covered content and keywords, it’s time to dive into links. Backlinks are any links that point back to your website from another website.

  These are a crucial part of the SEO pie. Without them, it’s hard to rank high on Google. They work well because they tell Google your web page or website has authority on a subject matter.

  But you could be penalised if you try to manipulate backlinks by purchasing them or spamming them from other websites.

  Instead, you should aim to draw in natural backlinks by creating content that attracts them.

  How ? There are several options :

  • Content marketing
  • Email outreach
  • Brand mentions
  • Public relations
  • Ethical guest posting

  Get involved in other people’s communities. Get on podcasts. Write guest posts. Connect with other brands. Provide value in your niche and create content worth linking to.

  5. Respecting the intellectual property of other brands

  Content creation is moving at lightspeed in the creator economy and social media era. For better or for worse, content is going viral every day. People share content, place their spin on it, revise it, optimise it, and spread it around the internet.

  Unfortunately, this means the content is sometimes shared without the owner’s permission. Content is one form of intellectual property (IP). 

  If you share copyrighted material, you could face legal consequences.

  6. Ensuring transparency

  Transparency is one of the pillars of ethical marketing.

  If you’re running the SEO in your company or an agency, you should always explain the SEO strategies and tactics you’re implementing to your stakeholders.

  It’s best to lean on transparency and honesty to ensure your team knows you’re running operations ethically.

  7. Implementing a great user experience

  The final pillar of ethical SEO practices is offering a great user experience on your website.

  Major search engines like Google are favouring user experience more and more every year. This means knowing how to track and analyse website metrics like page load times, time on page, pageviews, media plays and event tracking.

  8. Use an ethical web analytics solution

  Last but certainly not least. Tracking your website visitors ethically is key to maintaining SEO ethics.

  You can do this by using an ethical web analytics solution like Matomo, Plausible or Fathom. All three are committed to respecting user privacy and offer ethical tracking of visitors.

  We’re a bit biassed towards Matomo, of course, but for good reasons.

  Matomo offers accurate, unsampled data along with advanced features like heatmaps, session recording, and A/B testing. These features enhance user experience and support ethical SEO practices by providing insights into user behaviour, helping optimise content. 

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

  No credit card required

  6 unethical SEO practices to avoid

  Now that we’ve covered the ethical SEO best practices let’s talk about what kind of unethical SEO practices you want to avoid.

  Remember, SEO isn’t as easy to manipulate as it once was 20 years ago.

  Algorithms are much more sophisticated now, and search engines are getting better at detecting fraudulent, scammy or unethical SEO practices every year.

  Avoid these eight unethical SEO practices to ensure you can rank high in the long term :

  

  1. Keyword stuffing

  Keyword stuffing is probably the most common unethical SEO practice. This is where someone deliberately stuffs keywords onto a page to manipulate the search engines to rank a web page higher.

  Where this is unethical isn’t always easy to detect, but in some cases, it is. It comes down to whether it’s relevant and natural or intentionally stuffing.

  2. Cloaking

  Cloaking is another unethical SEO practice where someone manipulates the information search engines see on their website.

  For example, someone may show search engines one web page on their website, but when someone clicks on it in Google, they can direct someone to a completely different page. They do this by detecting the incoming request from the user agent and presenting different content.

  3. Deceiving functionality

  Another way companies are unethically implementing SEO tactics is by deceiving people with misleading information. For example, a website may claim to provide a free resource or directory but may intentionally lead visitors to paid products.

  4. Fraudulent redirects

  Another way to deceive or mislead searchers is by creating fraudulent redirects. A redirect is a way to take someone to a different web page when they click on another one. Redirects can be useful if a page is broken or outdated. However, they can be used to deceptively take someone to a website they didn’t intend to view.

  5. Negative SEO

  Negative SEO is the intentional attempt to harm a competitor’s search engine rankings through unethical tactics.

  These tactics include duplicating their content or generating spammy links by creating low quality or irrelevant backlinks to their site.

  6. Hidden text

  Placing hidden text on a website typically has one purpose : keyword stuffing.

  Instead of making it visible to users reading the content, websites will place invisible text or text that’s hard to read on a website to try to rank the content higher and manipulate the search engines.

  3 reasons you need to implement ethical SEO

  So, why should you ensure you only implement ethical SEO in your organic traffic strategy ?

  It’s not just about what’s morally right or wrong. Implementing ethical SEO is the smartest long-term marketing strategy :

  1. Better long-term SEO

  Search engine optimisation is about implementing the “right” tactics to get your website to rank higher.

  The funny thing is many people are trying to get quick fixes by manipulating search engines to see results now.

  However, the ones who implement shady tactics and “hacks” to game the system almost always end up losing their rankings in the long term. 

  The best long-term SEO strategy is to do things ethically. Create content that helps people. Make higher quality content than your competitors. If you do those two things right, you’ll have better search traffic for years.

  2. Great brand reputation

  Not only is ethical SEO a great way to get long-term results, but it’s also a good way to maintain a solid brand reputation.

  Reputation management is a crucial aspect of SEO. All it takes is one bad incident, and your SEO could be negatively impacted.

  3. Lower chance of penalties

  If you play by the rules, you have a lower risk of being penalised by Google.

  The reality is that Google owns the search engine, not you. While we can benefit from the traffic generation of major search engines, you could lose all your rankings if you break their guidelines.

  Track SEO data ethically with Matomo

  Ethical SEO is all about :

  • Serving your audience
  • Getting better traffic in the long run

  If you fail to follow ethical SEO practices, you could be de-ranked or have your reputation on the line.

  However, if you implement ethical SEO, you could reap the rewards of a sustainable marketing strategy that helps you grow your traffic correctly and increase conversions in the long term.

  If you’re ready to start implementing ethical SEO, you need to ensure you depend on an ethical web analytics solution like Matomo.

  Unlike other web analytics solutions, Matomo prioritises user privacy, maintains transparent, ethical data collection practices, and does not sell user data to advertisers. Matomo provides 100% data ownership, ensuring that your data remains yours to own and control.

  As the leading privacy-friendly web analytics solution globally, trusted by over 1 million websites, Matomo ensures :

  • Accurate data without data sampling for confident insights and better results
  • Privacy-friendly and GDPR-compliant web analytics
  • Open-source access for transparency and creating a custom solution tailored to your needs

  Try Matomo free for 21-days. No credit card required.

  Try Matomo for Free

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• Accessibility Testing : Why It Matters and How to Get Started

  7 mai 2024, par Erin

  Nearly 96% of website homepages had failures with meeting web accessibility criteria in 2024. Aside from not complying with web accessibility laws and regulations, companies are failing a growing number of users with accessibility needs.

  With disabilities, chronic illnesses and ageing populations all rising, brands need to take accessibility more seriously. 

  In this article, we explain why accessibility testing is so important and how you can get started today.

  What is accessibility testing ?

  Accessibility testing optimises digital experiences to make them accessible for users with a range of disabilities and impairments. This includes users with vision impairments, hearing loss, neurodivergence, motor disabilities and cognitive conditions.

  The goal is to create inclusive experiences for everyone by implementing UX principles that address the usability needs of diverse audiences.

  To help developers create accessible experiences, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The international WCAG standards define the Four Principles of Accessibility :

  • Perceivable : Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they perceive.

  • Operable : User interface components and navigation must be operable.

  • Understandable : Information and the operation of user interfaces must be understandable.
  • Robust : Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by various user agents, including assistive technologies.

  

  The current version of WCAG (2.2) contains 86 success criteria with three grades representing conformance levels :

  • Level A is the minimum conformance rating, indicating that web content is accessible to most users.

  • Level AA is the recommended conformance level to make content accessible to almost everyone, including users with severe disabilities.
  • Level AAA is the highest conformance rating, making content accessible to everyone, regardless of disability.

  

  Why is accessibility testing important ?

  With record numbers of lawsuits over online accessibility cases, it’s clear that companies underestimate the importance of accessibility testing. Here are seven key reasons you should pay more attention to it :

  1. Create inclusive experiences : Above all, accessibility testing creates inclusive experiences for all users.
  2. Adhere to accessibility regulations : Accessibility laws in most major markets — including the EU web accessibility policy — make it illegal for companies to discriminate against users with disabilities.
  3. Social responsibility : Companies have an ethical responsibility to cater to all users and consumers. 57% say they’re more loyal to brands that commit to addressing social inequities.
  4. Accessibility needs are growing : 16% of the world’s population (1 in 6) experience significant disability and the number will continue to grow as ageing populations rise.
  5. Improve experiences for everyone : Accessibility improves experiences for all users — for example, 80% of UK viewers aged 18-25 (2021) watch content with subtitles enabled.
  6. Maximise marketing reach : Platforms like Google prioritise accessibility yearly, making accessible content and experiences more visible.
  7. Accessibility is profitable : Inclusive companies earn 1.6x more revenue, 2.6x more net income and 2x more profit, according to Accenture (PDF).

  

  Who needs inclusive UX ?

  Accessibility testing starts with understanding the usability needs of audiences with disabilities and impairments. Here’s a quick summary of the most common impairments and some of the needs they have in common :

  • Visual impairments : Users may rely on screen readers, magnification software, braille displays, etc. or require certain levels of contrast, text sizes and colour combinations to aid visibility.
  • Hearing impairments : Users may rely on closed captions and subtitles for video content, transcripts for multimedia content and visual alerts/notifications for updates.
  • Motor or mobility impairments : Users might rely on adaptive keyboards, voice recognition and other assistive devices.
  • Cognitive and neurological impairments : Users may rely on technologies like text-to-speech software or require simplified user interfaces, contrast designs, etc., to aid comprehension.
  • Speech impairments : Users may rely on speech recognition and dictation software for any interaction that requires them to speak (e.g., automated customer service machines).

  While accessibility tools can alleviate certain accessibility challenges, inclusive design can remove much of the burden from users. This can involve using plenty of contrast, careful font selection, increasing whitespace and plenty of other design choices.

  Refer to the latest version of the WCAG for further guidance.

  How to run accessibility testing

  Now that we’ve emphasised the importance of accessibility, let’s explain how you can implement your own accessibility testing strategy.

  Create your accessibility testing plan

  Careful planning is crucial for making accessibility testing affordable and profitable. This starts with identifying the assets you need to test and optimise. This may include :

  • Website or web app
  • Mobile app
  • Videos
  • Podcasts and audio
  • PDFs
  • Marketing emails

  Map out all the assets your target audience interacts with and bring them into your accessibility testing plan. Optimising your website for screen readers is great, but you don’t want to forget your marketing emails and exclude vision-impaired users.

  Once you’ve got a complete list of assets, identify the elements and interactions with each one that require accessibility testing. For example, on your website, you should optimise navigation, user interfaces, layouts, web forms, etc.

  You also need to consider the impact of device types. For example, how touchscreens change the experience for motor impairments.

  Now that you know the scope of your testing strategy, it’s time to define your accessibility standards. Use external frameworks like WCAG guidelines and relevant legal requirements to create an internal set of standards.

  Once your accessibility standards are complete, train your staff at every level. This includes designers, developers, and content creators — everyone who works on assets is included in your accessibility testing strategy.

  Implement your accessibility standards throughout the design and development phases. Aim to create the most inclusive experiences possible before the accessibility testing stage.

  Implement accessibility practices at every level

  Treating accessibility as an afterthought is the biggest mistake you can make. Aside from neglecting the importance of accessibility, it’s simply not affordable to create assets and then optimise them for accessibility.

  Instead, you need to implement accessibility standards in every design and development stage. This way, you create inclusive assets from the beginning, and accessibility testing flags minor fixes rather than overhauls.

  By extension, you can take lessons from accessibility tests and update your accessibility standards to improve the quality of future assets.

  Set clear specifications in your accessibility standards for everyone to follow. For example, content publishers should be responsible for adding alt-text to all images. Make designers responsible for following contrast guidelines when optimising elements like CTA buttons.

  

  Next, managers can review assets and check for accessibility standards before anything is signed off. This way, you achieve higher test accessibility scores, and most fixes should be minor.

  This is the key to making accessibility testing manageable and profitable.

  Automate accessibility testing

  Automation is the other big factor in making accessibility efficient. With the right tools, you can run tests periodically without any manual workload, collecting data and flagging potential issues at almost no cost.

  For example, you can run automated accessibility tests on your website every month to check for common issues. This might flag up pages without alt-text for images, colour issues on a new batch of landing pages or a sudden drop in mobile loading times.

  Every automated test you can run reduces the manual workload of optimising accessibility. This frees up more time for the manual tests that require the attention of accessibility experts. 

  • Free up time for accessibility tasks that require manual testing
  • Identify issues with new content, assets, code, etc. faster
  • Run automated accessibility testing on new CRO changes

  Schedule manual accessibility reviews

  While it’s important to automate as much accessibility testing as possible, most accessibility standards require some form of manual testing. If we use the WCAG standards as a guideline, more than 70% of success require manual review and verification, including :

  • Testing websites with a screen reader
  • Navigating apps by only using a keyword
  • Quality assessing closed captions and subtitles
  • Testing web forms for people using speech input
  • Checking conversion actions for users with mobility issues (CTAs, forms, payments, etc.)

  Yes, you can automatically check all images for alt-text, but simply providing alt-text isn’t enough. You also have to review alt-text to make sure they’re descriptive, accurate and informative about the experience.

  Once again, the best way to minimise your time spent on manual testing is to implement accessibility standards throughout design and development. Train your content publishers to create alt-text that meets your criteria and editors to review them before pieces are signed off. 

  This way, you should always have the required alt-text before the content reaches the accessibility testing stage. The same applies to video transcriptions, web forms, website navigation, etc.

  Building a culture of accessibility makes the testing process as efficient as possible.

  What tools do you need for accessibility testing ?

  Now that we’ve covered the key essentials of accessibility testing, let’s look at some of the best accessibility testing tools to help you implement your strategy.

  accessiBe : AI-powered accessibility testing automation

  accessiBe is an accessibility testing automation and management system. It incorporates two core products : accessWidget for automating UI accessibility and accessFlow as an all-in-one solution for developers.

  

  Key features :

  • Automated accessibility testing
  • Accessibility widget for easy optimisation
  • Product accessibility for web, mobile and native apps
  • AI-powered accessibility insights
  • Compliance with WCAG, EAA and more

  As explained earlier, automation is crucial for making accessibility testing efficient and profitable. With accessiBe, you can automate the first line of accessibility checks so testers only need to get involved when manual action is necessary.

  Maze : Intelligent usability testing software

  Maze is a usability testing system that uses AI and automation to enhance traditional qualitative testing. You can run automated tests on live websites, capture survey feedback and recruit users to test experiences with real people.

  

  Key features :

  • Live website testing
  • Feedback surveys
  • Usability interviews
  • Test recruitment
  • Automated analysis

  While traditional usability interviews can provide in-depth insights, they’re expensive, time-consuming and difficult to run at scale. Maze’s solution is a hybrid testing system that automates data capture and analysis while supporting real user testing in one system.

  Matomo : Empowering people with ethical web analytics

  Matomo is a web analytics solution that gives you 100% data ownership while respecting user privacy. Think of this as a Google Analytics alternative that doesn’t use your visitors’ data for advertising purposes.

  

  Key features :

  • Privacy-friendly and GDPR-compliant tracking
  • Conversion rate optimisation features like heatmaps, session recordings, A/B testing and more
  • Accurate, unsampled data – see 40-60% more data than other analytics tools that sample data
  • Open-source

  Accessibility starts with creating quality experiences for everyone. Matomo reliably captures 100% of the data you need to optimise experiences without losing their trust. Instead of handing their personal info to Google or other tech giants, you retain full data ownership — fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, etc.

  Try Matomo free for 21-days (no credit card required), or speak to our sales team for more info on how Matomo can enhance your site’s user experience and support your accessibility testing strategy.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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  UserTesting : Video-based user testing software

  UserTesting is the more traditional system for running usability tests with real people. The platform helps you recruit users and manage usability tests with a series of sessions and video interviews.

  

  Key features :

  • Usability testing
  • Test recruitment
  • Live interviews
  • AI-powered insights
  • Usability services

  UserTesting is a slower, more expensive approach to testing experiences, but its video-based interviews allow you to have meaningful conversations with real users.

  Siteimprove : WCAG compliance testing

  Siteimprove automates website testing, accessibility and optimisation. It includes dedicated tools for checking WCAG and DCI compliance with an automated scoring system. This helps you keep track of scores and identify any accessibility and usability issues faster.

  

  Key features :

  • Automated accessibility checks
  • Inclusivity scores
  • Accessibility recommendations
  • Accessibility tracking
  • Marketing and revenue attribution
  • Usability insights

  Siteimprove provides a first line of accessibility testing with automated checks and practical recommendations. It also tracks accessibility scores, including ratings for all three WCAG compliance levels (A, AA and AAA).

  Find the value in accessibility testing

  Accessibility testing isn’t only a moral obligation ; it’s good business. Aside from avoiding fines and lawsuits, inclusive experiences are increasingly profitable. User bases with accessibility needs are only growing while non-disabled audiences are using accessibility resources like subtitles and transcripts in greater numbers.

  Accessibility improves everyone’s experiences, and this only does good things for conversion rates, revenue and profit.

  Start building your datasets for accessibility testing today with a Matomo 21-day free trial — no credit card required. Gain 100% ownership over your analytics data while complying with GDPR and other data privacy regulations.

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