Checks
Every check, and what it looks for.
Lookful runs 48 kinds of checks on each page you pick, in a real Chrome browser, after the page and its widgets have settled. Here is all of it, including what it can’t judge.
Three kinds of result
Issue
Found and confirmed
A rule or test found a problem with a specific element. Issues are ranked by severity and count toward the risk score.
Needs review
Likely, check before acting
AI review and pattern checks that need a person’s judgment. Shown with a confidence score; never counted in the risk score.
Could not check
A gap, not a pass
Something Lookful couldn’t test, such as a flow on another website or a banner it couldn’t operate. Listed so nothing is silently skipped.
01
Automated accessibility rules
The full axe-core rule set for WCAG 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 at levels A and AA, plus best practices.
axe-core 4.14 runs on every page in a real Chrome browser, after the page and its late-loading widgets have settled. It runs again in every menu and dialog Lookful opens, so problems that only appear in those states are caught too.
| Check | What it looks for | WCAG | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text alternatives | Images, image buttons, icons and SVGs without a text alternative. | 1.1.1 | Issue |
| Color contrast | Text that does not meet the minimum contrast ratio against its background. | 1.4.3 | Issue |
| Names and roles | Buttons, links, form fields and custom controls with no accessible name, or ARIA used in ways assistive technology can’t follow. | 4.1.2 | Issue |
| Form labels | Fields without a programmatic label. | 1.3.1, 3.3.2 | Issue |
| Structure | Lists, tables, landmarks and headings marked up so the structure is lost to screen readers. | 1.3.1 | Issue |
| Language and titles | Missing page language and page titles. | 3.1.1, 2.4.2 | Issue |
| Target size | Small, tightly packed touch targets (WCAG 2.2). | 2.5.8 | Issue |
| Zoom and motion | Pages that block zooming, and media or content that moves without control. | 1.4.4, 2.2.2 | Issue |
02
Keyboard test
Lookful tabs through each page like a keyboard user does.
It presses Tab from the top of the page, up to 250 times, and compares each element with and without focus.
| Check | What it looks for | WCAG | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus not visible | An element takes focus but nothing on screen shows it. | 2.4.7 | Issue |
| Focus on hidden content | Focus lands on something that isn’t visible, so the user loses their place. | 2.4.7 | Issue |
| Keyboard trap | Focus gets stuck or loops without a way out (video and audio players get extra room). | 2.1.2 | Issue |
| Embedded frames | Focus stays inside a third-party frame Lookful can’t inspect, such as a booking widget. | — | Could not check |
03
Interaction engine
Lookful uses the page: it clicks, presses keys, hovers and opens things, then checks what a keyboard or screen reader user would get.
It reads each element’s event listeners from the browser and confirms problems by trying them. While it clicks and submits, every request that would send data and every navigation away is blocked, so nothing leaves the page.
| Check | What it looks for | WCAG | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Click-only controls | Something that works with a mouse click but can’t be reached or used from the keyboard. Confirmed by clicking it. | 2.1.1, 4.1.2 | Issue |
| Custom buttons and keys | Elements acting as buttons that ignore Enter and Space, or Space only. | 2.1.1 | Issue |
| Focus that goes nowhere | Elements you can tab to that do nothing. | 2.4.3 | Issue |
| Hover-only menus | Submenus that only open on mouse hover. | 2.1.1 | Issue |
| Hover-only tooltips | Tooltips that keyboard users never see, or that vanish too soon. | 2.1.1, 1.4.13 | Issue |
| Placeholder used as a label | Fields whose only label disappears as soon as you type. | 3.3.2, 1.3.1 | Issue |
| Hints not connected | Help text that screen readers don’t read with its field. | 1.3.1 | Issue |
| Error handling | Lookful submits forms empty and checks the errors: not identified in text, shown by color alone, not connected to the field, not announced, or with no suggestion how to fix. | 3.3.1, 3.3.3, 4.1.3 | Issue |
04
Menus, dialogs and pop-ups
Up to six menus, dialogs, chat, tour and search panels are opened on each page and tested in their open state.
Lookful finds the triggers, opens each one, screenshots it, runs the automated rules again and keeps only the new problems. Lightboxes without dialog markup are tested too.
| Check | What it looks for | WCAG | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus not moved | A dialog opens but focus stays behind it on the page. | 2.4.3 | Issue |
| Focus escapes | Tabbing leaves an open modal and wanders the page behind it. | 2.4.3 | Issue |
| No keyboard way to close | The close button can’t be reached, or Escape doesn’t close it. | 2.1.1 | Issue |
| Problems inside open states | Contrast, names, labels and structure inside menus and dialogs, which page-level scans never see. | Various | Issue |
05
AI review
A vision model reads each page’s accessibility tree and screenshot for problems rules can’t judge.
Findings are labelled “needs review” with a confidence score, must point at a real element, and never count toward the risk score. Low-confidence results are dropped. Raw page HTML is never sent.
| Check | What it looks for | WCAG | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alt text quality | Alternative text that is present but unhelpful, such as a file name or “image”. | 1.1.1 | Needs review |
| Link purpose | Links like “click here” or “learn more” that don’t say where they go. | 2.4.4 | Needs review |
| Heading structure | Headings that don’t describe their section, or a visual outline that the markup doesn’t match. | 1.3.1, 2.4.6 | Needs review |
| Visual and code mismatch | Things that look like headings, lists or buttons but aren’t coded as them. | 1.3.1 | Needs review |
| Label clarity | Labels and instructions that are vague or misleading. | 2.4.6, 3.3.2 | Needs review |
06
Cookies, trackers and consent
What the site does before a visitor chooses, after they accept, and after they reject.
Each scenario runs in its own fresh browser. Lookful recognizes consent banners from OneTrust, Cookiebot, CookieYes, TrustArc, Osano, CookieFirst, HubSpot, Complianz, Usercentrics and iubenda, and others by their buttons. It compares requests and cookies against a list of analytics, advertising and session-replay services. Cookie values are never stored.
| Check | What it looks for | WCAG | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tracking before consent | Analytics, advertising or session-replay tracking that starts before the visitor makes a choice. | — | Issue |
| Tracking after reject | Tracking that keeps running after the visitor rejects it. | — | Issue |
| No consent banner | Tracking is present but there is no way to choose (only raised when trackers were seen). | — | Issue |
| No way to reject | A banner with Accept but no equally available Reject. | — | Issue |
| Policy doesn’t mention a tracker | A tracker the site uses is missing from its privacy policy, or only covered by a generic line. | — | Needs review |
| Banner couldn’t be operated | Lookful couldn’t find or press Accept or Reject, so that scenario wasn’t tested. | — | Could not check |
07
Site-wide checks
Things every site should have, beyond a single page.
Run on the home page and on documents linked from the pages you scan.
| Check | What it looks for | WCAG | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accessibility statement | No accessibility statement linked, or one with no way to contact you. | — | Issue |
| Untagged PDFs | Linked PDFs without the tags screen readers need (up to five per page, same site). | 1.3.1 | Issue |
| PDF titles | Linked PDFs without a document title. | 2.4.2 | Issue |
| Accessibility overlays | Overlay widgets (accessiBe, UserWay, AudioEye, EqualWeb, Max Access, Recite Me, Eye-Able). They don’t fix the site’s code and can get in the way of assistive technology. | — | Issue |
| Widgets that didn’t load | A chat, tour or booking widget whose script loaded but whose interface never appeared, so it couldn’t be checked. | — | Could not check |
08 · Apartment community sites
Apartment community checks
For sites set up as an apartment community.
Leasing checks run on every scan. Fee transparency insights are a paid add-on and never count toward the risk score.
| Check | What it looks for | WCAG | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search results not announced | Floor plan and availability filters that update results without telling screen reader users. | 4.1.3 | Needs review |
| Leasing flow on another site | Apply and pay-rent links that go to a leasing platform, so that flow wasn’t checked. Lookful suggests what to ask the vendor for. | — | Could not check |
| Rent without the total monthly price | Rent is advertised without a total that includes mandatory fees. | — | Needs review |
| “Additional fees may apply” | Fine print that says fees exist without saying which or how much. | — | Needs review |
| Fees without amounts | Fees named without an amount or how it’s worked out. | — | Needs review |
| Required or optional | Fees listed without saying which are required. | — | Needs review |
| Specials against base rent | Specials stated only against base rent, with no total or net price. | — | Needs review |
| No fees before Apply | Rent and an Apply button, but no fees on the page or linked from it. | — | Needs review |
What automated testing can’t do.
No scanner can tell you a site is accessible. Some barriers only show up when a person uses the site, ideally with the assistive technology they rely on.
In the UK Government Digital Service’s 2017 test of automated tools, about 29% of 143 deliberate barriers were missed by every tool. Deque’s 2021 study of real audits found automated tests caught about 57% of issues by volume, but those issues fell under only 16 of the 50 WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria.
Plan on a person checking, at least:
- How the site sounds and works with a screen reader, from start to finish
- Whether reading and focus order make sense, and content is meaningful out of context
- Captions, transcripts and audio descriptions, and whether they’re accurate
- Whether text alternatives, headings and instructions say the right thing (Lookful flags likely problems)
- Zoom to 400%, text spacing and orientation, and anything time-limited
- Flows on other websites, such as payment or application platforms
What Lookful does about it: it labels judgment calls as “needs review”, lists what it couldn’t check, and writes an accessibility statement that says “partially meets” instead of claiming conformance.
Sources: GDS, “What we found when we tested tools on the world’s least-accessible webpage” (2017); Deque, “Automated testing study identifies 57 percent of digital accessibility issues” (2021).
How a scan runs.
A real browser
Each page loads in Chrome at a desktop size. Lookful waits for the network to go quiet and for late widgets to appear before it tests anything.
Several visits per page
The page as loaded, with each menu and dialog open, and in separate fresh sessions for before consent, after accept and after reject.
Nothing leaves the page
While Lookful clicks and submits empty forms, every request that would send data, every navigation away and every pop-up is blocked. It never leaves your domain.
Evidence kept
Screenshots of each page and open state, the element for every finding, and a dated log of what was scanned. Cookie values are never stored.
Bot walls respected
If a page is blocked by a bot wall or returns “forbidden”, Lookful marks it blocked with a screenshot, instead of trying to get around it.
It says who it is
Every request carries LookfulBot in its user agent, so site owners can see it in their logs. About LookfulBot.
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