Accessibility Testing with axe-core

SHAFT Engine integrates axe-core to run automated accessibility audits directly within your existing WebDriver tests. No separate tooling is required — simply chain .accessibility() onto your browser actions to start auditing pages for WCAG compliance.

info

Accessibility testing helps ensure your application is usable by people with disabilities and meets legal requirements such as WCAG 2.1.

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Enabling axe-core

Add the axe-core Selenium dependency to your pom.xml:

pom.xml

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.deque.html.axe-core</groupId>
    <artifactId>selenium</artifactId>
    <version>4.10.0</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

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Available Methods

assertNoCriticalViolations

Asserts that the current page has no critical accessibility violations. The test fails immediately if any critical-severity issues are found.

AccessibilityTesting.java

driver.browser().navigateToURL("https://example.com")
      .accessibility()
      .assertNoCriticalViolations("Home Page");

assertAccessibilityScoreAtLeast

Asserts that the page meets a minimum accessibility score (0–100). Use this to enforce a progressive improvement policy.

AccessibilityTesting.java

driver.browser().navigateToURL("https://example.com")
      .accessibility()
      .assertAccessibilityScoreAtLeast("Home Page", 90.0);

analyzeWithIgnoredRules

Runs an accessibility audit while ignoring specific axe-core rules. Useful when known false positives or accepted deviations exist.

AccessibilityTesting.java

driver.browser().navigateToURL("https://example.com")
      .accessibility()
      .analyzeWithIgnoredRules("Home Page", List.of("color-contrast", "image-alt"));

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Complete Example

AccessibilityAuditTest.java

import com.shaft.driver.SHAFT;
import org.testng.annotations.AfterMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.BeforeMethod;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;
import java.util.List;

public class AccessibilityAuditTest {
    private SHAFT.GUI.WebDriver driver;

    @BeforeMethod
    public void setup() {
        driver = new SHAFT.GUI.WebDriver();
    }

    @Test
    public void assertNoAccessibilityViolations() {
        driver.browser().navigateToURL("https://example.com")
              .accessibility()
              .assertNoCriticalViolations("Home Page");
    }

    @Test
    public void enforceMinimumAccessibilityScore() {
        driver.browser().navigateToURL("https://example.com")
              .accessibility()
              .assertAccessibilityScoreAtLeast("Home Page", 90.0);
    }

    @Test
    public void auditWithKnownExclusions() {
        driver.browser().navigateToURL("https://example.com")
              .accessibility()
              .analyzeWithIgnoredRules("Home Page", List.of("color-contrast", "image-alt"));
    }

    @AfterMethod
    public void teardown() {
        driver.quit();
    }
}

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When to Use

tip

Run accessibility audits as part of your CI/CD pipeline to catch regressions early. Integrate them into smoke tests so every deployment is checked.

Scenario	Recommended Method
Strict compliance gate	assertNoCriticalViolations()
Progressive improvement	assertAccessibilityScoreAtLeast()
Known accepted deviations	analyzeWithIgnoredRules()

note

Accessibility audit results are automatically included in the SHAFT Allure report, showing the page name, score, and details of any violations found.