Shift Left Accessibility

[sagarbarbhaya]

shift-left-csun-Sagar-Barbhaya.pdf

Accessibility is a critical aspect of user experience. It is important for developers to confidently say their code is accessible. For this to happen, they need to understand accessibility standards and coding techniques. It’s also important for them to test their own code.

Catching quality gaps before the developer commits code increases efficiency and ultimately saves money. Microsoft’s Test Early and Often article explains “Catching defects as early as possible is the least expensive way to ensure software quality.”[i]

Shift Left Transformation

Today’s technology companies are pushing updates continually and this places increased pressure on developers to move quickly from ideation to production. Ensuring quality code is also transitioning from the post-development/pre-production stage to integration with the developer’s daily coding process. This shift towards the developer is known as “shift-left” testing.

Accessibility, like all other aspects of quality testing, must be included in the developer’s tool kit to catch potential problems before the code is committed. Intuit’s accessibility team spent much of 2017 incorporating automated testing tools for all levels of development, including this shift towards the developer process.