sergeik/pa11y

pa11y is your automated accessibility testing pal

pa11y

pa11y is your automated accessibility testing pal. It runs HTML CodeSniffer from the command line for programmatic accessibility reporting.

On the command line:

pa11y nature.com

In JavaScript:

var pa11y = require('pa11y');

var test = pa11y(options);

test.run('nature.com', function (error, results) {
    /* ... */
});

Table Of Contents

• Requirements
• Command-Line Interface
• JavaScript Interface
• Configuration
• Examples
• Common Questions
• Contributing
• Support and Migration
• License

Requirements

pa11y requires Node.js 0.12+ and PhantomJS to run.

OS X

On a Mac, you can install the required dependencies with Homebrew:

$ brew install node
$ brew install phantomjs

Alternatively download pre-built packages from the Node.js and PhantomJS websites.

Linux

Depending on your flavour of Linux, you should be able to use a package manager to install the required dependencies. Alternatively download pre-built packages from the Node.js and PhantomJS websites.

Windows

Windows users approach with caution – we've been able to get pa11y running (Windows 7, Node 0.12) but only after installing Visual Studio and the Windows SDK (as well as Git, Python and PhantomJS). The Windows installation instructions for node-gyp are a good place to start.

If you run into following error:

Error: spawn phantomjs ENOENT
    at exports._errnoException (util.js:874:11)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:178:32)
    at onErrorNT (internal/child_process.js:344:16)
    at doNTCallback2 (node.js:439:9)
    at process._tickCallback (node.js:353:17)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:469:11)
    at startup (node.js:134:18)
    at node.js:961:3

follow these steps:

1. Install PhantomJS@v2.0 via npm

   npm install -g phantomjs2
   

2. Navigate to %APPDATA%\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\phantomjs2\lib\phantom\bin and copy phantomjs.exe to %APPDATA%\AppData\Roaming\npm\

Command-Line Interface

Install pa11y globally with npm:

npm install -g pa11y

This installs the pa11y command-line tool:

Usage: pa11y [options] <url>

  Options:

    -h, --help                    output usage information
    -V, --version                 output the version number
    -s, --standard <name>         the accessibility standard to use: Section508, WCAG2A, WCAG2AA (default), WCAG2AAA
    -r, --reporter <reporter>     the reporter to use: cli (default), csv, html, json
    -l, --level <level>           the level of message to fail on (exit with code 2): error, warning, notice
    -T, --threshold <name>        the number of individual errors, warnings, or notices to permit before failing
    -i, --ignore <ignore>         types and codes of messages to ignore, a repeatable value or separated by semi-colons
    -E, --hide-elements <hide>    a CSS selector to hide elements from testing, selectors can be comma separated
    -R, --root-element <element>  the root element for testing a subset of the document
    -c, --config <path>           a JSON or JavaScript config file
    -p, --port <port>             the port to run PhantomJS on
    -t, --timeout <ms>            the timeout in milliseconds
    -w, --wait <ms>               the time to wait before running tests in milliseconds
    -d, --debug                   output debug messages
    -H, --htmlcs <url>            the URL or path to source HTML_CodeSniffer from
    -e, --phantomjs <path>        the path to the phantomjs executable

Running Tests

Run an accessibility test against a URL:

pa11y nature.com

Run an accessibility test against a file:

pa11y file:///path/to/your/file.html

Run a test with CSV reporting and save to a file:

pa11y --reporter csv nature.com > report.csv

Run pa11y with the Section508 ruleset:

pa11y --standard Section508 nature.com

Exit Codes

The command-line tool uses the following exit codes:

• 0: pa11y ran successfully, and there are no errors
• 1: pa11y failed run due to a technical fault
• 2: pa11y ran successfully but there are errors in the page

By default, only accessibility issues with a type of error will exit with a code of 2. This is configurable with the --level flag which can be set to one of the following:

• error: exit with a code of 2 on errors only, exit with a code of 0 on warnings and notices
• warning: exit with a code of 2 on errors and warnings, exit with a code of 0 on notices
• notice: exit with a code of 2 on errors, warnings, and notices
• none: always exit with a code of 0

Command-Line Configuration

The command-line tool can be configured with a JSON file as well as arguments. By default it will look for a pa11y.json file in the current directory, but you can change this with the --config flag:

pa11y --config ./path/to/config.json nature.com

For more information on configuring pa11y, see the configuration documentation.

Ignoring

The ignore flag can be used in several different ways. Seperated by semi-colons:

pa11y --ignore "warning;notice" nature.com

or by using the flag mutiple times:

pa11y --ignore warning --ignore notice nature.com

Reporters

The command-line tool can report test results in a few different ways using the --reporter flag. The built-in reporters are:

• cli: output test results in a human-readable format
• csv: output test results as comma-separated values
• html: output test results as an HTML document
• json: output test results as a JSON array
• markdown: output test results as a Markdown document

You can also write and publish your own reporters. Pa11y looks for reporters in the core library, your node_modules folder (with a naming pattern), and the current working directory. The first reporter found will be loaded. So with this command:

pa11y --reporter rainbows nature.com

The following locations will be checked:

<pa11y-core>/reporter/rainbows
<cwd>/node_modules/pa11y-reporter-rainbows
<cwd>/rainbows

A pa11y reporter should export the following methods:

begin(url); // Called when pa11y starts
error(message); // Called when a technical error is reported
debug(message); // Called when a debug message is reported
info(message); // Called when an information message is reported
results(resultsArray, url); // Called with the results of a test run

You may find the following reporters useful:

• 1.0-json: output test results in the pa11y 1.0 JSON format

JavaScript Interface

Install pa11y with npm or add to your package.json:

npm install pa11y

Require pa11y:

var pa11y = require('pa11y');

Create a tester by initialising pa11y with some options:

var test = pa11y(options);

The test.run function can then be used to run your test function against a URL:

test.run('http://www.nature.com/', function(error, results) {
    // ...
});

The results that get passed into your test callback come from HTML CodeSniffer, and look like this:

[
    {
        code: 'WCAG2AA.Principle1.Guideline1_1.1_1_1.H30.2',
        context: '<a href="http://example.com/"><img src="example.jpg" alt=""/></a>',
        message: 'Img element is the only content of the link, but is missing alt text. The alt text should describe the purpose of the link.',
        selector: 'html > body > p:nth-child(1) > a',
        type: 'error',
        typeCode: 1
    },
    {
        code: 'WCAG2AA.Principle1.Guideline1_3.1_3_1.H49.B',
        context: '<b>Hello World!</b>',
        message: 'Semantic markup should be used to mark emphasised or special text so that it can be programmatically determined.',
        selector: '#content > b:nth-child(4)',
        type: 'warning',
        typeCode: 2
    },
    {
        code: 'WCAG2AA.Principle2.Guideline2_4.2_4_4.H77,H78,H79,H80,H81',
        context: '<a href="http://example.com/">Hello World!</a>',
        message: 'Check that the link text combined with programmatically determined link context identifies the purpose of the link.',
        selector: 'html > body > ul > li:nth-child(2) > a',
        type: 'notice',
        typeCode: 3
    }
]

Configuration

pa11y has lots of options you can use to change the way PhantomJS runs, or the way your page is loaded. Options can be set either on the pa11y instance when it's created or the individual test runs. This allows you to set some defaults which can be overridden per-test:

// Set the default Foo header to "bar"
var test = pa11y({
    page: {
        headers: {
            Foo: 'bar'
        }
    }
});

// Run a test with the Foo header set to "bar"
test.run('http://www.nature.com/', function(error, results) { /* ... */ });

// Run a test with the Foo header overridden
test.run('http://www.nature.com/', {
    page: {
        headers: {
            Foo: 'hello'
        }
    }
}, function(error, results) { /* ... */ });

Below is a reference of all the options that are available:

allowedStandards (array)

The accessibility standards that are allowed to be used. This can be modified to allow for custom HTML CodeSniffer standards.

pa11y({
    allowedStandards: ['WCAG2AA', 'My Custom Standard']
});

Defaults to Section508, WCAG2A, WCAG2AA, and WCAG2AAA.

beforeScript (function)

A function to be run before pa11y tests the page. The function accepts three parameters;

• page is the phantomjs page object, documentation for the phantom bridge can be found here
• options is the finished options object used to configure pa11y
• next is a callback function

pa11y({
    beforeScript: function(page, options, next) {
		// Make changes to the page
		// When finished call next to continue running pa11y tests
		next();
	}
});

Defaults to null.

hideElements (string)

A CSS selector to hide elements from testing, selectors can be comma separated. Elements matching this selector will be hidden from testing by styling them with visibility:hidden.

pa11y({
	hideElements: '.advert, #modal, div[aria-role=presentation]'
});

htmlcs (string)

The path or URL to source HTML CodeSniffer from.

pa11y({
    htmlcs: 'http://squizlabs.github.io/HTML_CodeSniffer/build/HTMLCS.js'
});

Defaults to a local copy of HTML CodeSniffer, found in lib/vendor/HTMLCS.js.

ignore (array)

An array of result codes and types that you'd like to ignore. You can find the codes for each rule in the console output and the types are error, warning, and notice.

pa11y({
    ignore: [
        'notice',
        'WCAG2AA.Principle3.Guideline3_1.3_1_1.H57.2'
    ]
});

Defaults to an empty array.

log (object)

An object which implements the methods debug, error, and info which will be used to report errors and test information.

pa11y({
    log: {
        debug: console.log.bind(console),
        error: console.error.bind(console),
        info: console.info.bind(console)
    }
});

Each of these defaults to an empty function.

page.headers (object)

A key-value map of request headers to send when testing a web page.

pa11y({
    page: {
        headers: {
            Cookie: 'foo=bar'
        }
    }
});

Defaults to an empty object.

page.settings (object)

A key-value map of settings to add to the PhantomJS page. For a full list of available settings, see the PhantomJS page settings documentation.

pa11y({
    page: {
        settings: {
            loadImages: false,
            userName: 'nature',
            password: 'say the magic word'
        }
    }
});

Defaults to:

{
    userAgent: 'pa11y/<version> (truffler/<version>)'
}

page.viewport (object)

The viewport width and height in pixels. The viewport object must have both width and height properties.

pa11y({
    page: {
        viewport: {
            width: 320,
            height: 480
        }
    }
});

Defaults to:

{
    width: 1024,
    height: 768
}

phantom (object)

A key-value map of settings to initialise PhantomJS with. This is passed directly into the phantom module – documentation can be found here. You can pass PhantomJS command-line parameters in the phantom.parameters option as key-value pairs.

pa11y({
    phantom: {
        port: 1234,
        parameters: {
            'ignore-ssl-errors': 'false',
            'ssl-protocol': 'tlsv1'
        }
    }
});

Defaults to:

{
    parameters: {
        'ignore-ssl-errors': 'true'
    }
}

If phantom.port is not specified, a random available port will be used.

rootElement (element)

The root element for testing a subset of the page opposed to the full document.

pa11y({
    rootElement: '#main'
});

Defaults to null, meaning the full document will be tested.

standard (string)

The accessibility standard to use when testing pages. This should be one of Section508, WCAG2A, WCAG2AA, or WCAG2AAA (or match one of the standards in the allowedStandards option).

pa11y({
    standard: 'Section508'
});

Defaults to WCAG2AA.

timeout (number)

The time in milliseconds that a test should be allowed to run before calling back with a timeout error.

pa11y({
    timeout: 500
});

Defaults to 30000.

wait (number)

The time in milliseconds to wait before running HTML CodeSniffer on the page.

pa11y({
    wait: 500
});

Defaults to 0.

Examples

Basic Example

Run pa11y on a URL and output the results:

node example/basic

Multiple Example

Use async to run pa11y on multiple URLs in series, and output the results:

node example/multiple

Common Questions

Common questions about pa11y are answered here.

How do I set cookies on a tested page?

Use the page.headers option either in your JS code or in your config file:

pa11y({
    page: {
        headers: {
            Cookie: 'foo=bar'
        }
    }
});

How can pa11y log in if my site's behind basic auth?

Use the page.settings option either in your JS code or in your config file to set a username and password:

pa11y({
    page: {
        settings: {
            userName: 'nature',
            password: 'say the magic word'
        }
    }
});

How can pa11y log in if my site has a log in form?

Use the beforeScript option either in your JS code or in your config file to input login details and submit the form. Once the form has been submitted you will also have to wait until the page you want to test has loaded before calling next to run pa11y.

pa11y({
	beforeScript: function(page, options, next) {
		var waitUntil = function(condition, retries, waitOver) {
			page.evaluate(condition, function(error, result) {
				if (result || retries < 1) {
					waitOver();
				} else {
					retries -= 1;
					setTimeout(function() {
						waitUntil(condition, retries, waitOver);
					}, 200);
				}
			});
		};

		page.evaluate(function() {
			var user = document.querySelector('#username');
			var password = document.querySelector('#password');
			var submit = document.querySelector('#submit');

			user.value = 'exampleUser';
			password.value = 'password1234';

			submit.click();

		}, function() {

			waitUntil(function() {
				return window.location.href === 'http://example.com/myaccount';
			}, 20, next);
		});
	}
});

How can I use pa11y with a proxy server?

Use the phantom.parameters option either in your JS code or in your config file:

pa11y({
    phantom: {
        parameters: {
            'proxy': '1.2.3.4:8080',
            'proxy-type': 'http',
            'proxy-auth': 'username:password'
        }
    }
});

These match PhantomJS command-line parameters. proxy-type can be set to http, socks5, or none.

How can I simulate a user interaction before running pa11y?

Use the beforeScript option either in your JS code or in your config file to simulate the interactions before running pa11y.

In this example, additional content is loaded via ajax when a button is clicked. Once the content is loaded the aria-hidden atrribute switches from true to false.

pa11y({
	beforeScript: function(page, options, next) {
		var waitUntil = function(condition, retries, waitOver) {
			page.evaluate(condition, function(error, result) {
				if (result || retries < 1) {
					waitOver();
				} else {
					retries -= 1;
					setTimeout(function() {
						waitUntil(condition, retries, waitOver);
					}, 200);
				}
			});
		};

		page.evaluate(function() {
			var ajaxButton = document.querySelector('#loadContent');
			var dynamicContent = document.querySelector('#content');

			ajaxButton.click();

		}, function() {

			waitUntil(function() {
				return dynamicContent.getAttribute('aria-hidden') === 'false';
			}, 20, next);
		});
	}
});

Contributing

To contribute to pa11y, clone this repo locally and commit your code on a separate branch.

Please write unit tests for your code, and check that everything works by running the following before opening a pull-request:

make ci

Support and Migration

Pa11y major versions are normally supported for 6 months after their last minor release. This means that patch-level changes will be added and bugs will be fixed. The table below outlines the end-of-support dates for major versions, and the last minor release for that version.

We also maintain a migration guide to help you migrate.

❔	Major Version	Last Minor Release	Node.js Versions	Support End Date
❤️	3	N/A	0.12+	N/A
⌛	2	2.4	0.10–0.12	2016-10-16
⌛	1	1.7	0.10	2016-06-08

If you're opening issues related to these, please mention the version that the issue relates to.

License

pa11y is licensed under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL-3.0).
Copyright © 2013, Springer Nature