Documentation

Welcome to ScanAbility's comprehensive documentation. Learn how to scan your website for WCAG accessibility issues and achieve ADA compliance before the April 24, 2026 deadline.

Getting Started

Create Your Account

Sign up for a free ScanAbility account to start scanning your website for accessibility issues.

Add Your First Domain

Once your account is created, add the domain you want to scan:

Run Your First Scan

Start your first accessibility scan in just one click:

Understanding WCAG 2.1 Standards

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 is the international standard for web accessibility. The guidelines have three conformance levels:

WCAG 2.1 Level A (Minimum)

The most basic level of accessibility. Covers essential accessibility features like text alternatives for images and basic keyboard navigation. Most websites can achieve this level relatively easily.

WCAG 2.1 Level AA (Standard)

The recommended level for most organizations, including government agencies required to comply with the ADA. Builds on Level A and includes requirements for color contrast, audio descriptions, and more sophisticated keyboard navigation. This is the minimum requirement for ADA Title II compliance as of April 24, 2026.

WCAG 2.1 Level AAA (Enhanced)

The highest level of accessibility, with the most stringent requirements. Recommended for organizations with a high proportion of users with disabilities or specialized accessibility needs. Includes requirements like sign language interpretation and extended audio descriptions.

Four Principles of WCAG

All WCAG guidelines are organized around four core principles:

• Perceivable: Information must be perceivable to all users, including those with visual or auditory disabilities
• Operable: Interface components must be operable through keyboard navigation and other input methods
• Understandable: Content must be understandable to all users, with clear language and predictable behavior
• Robust: Content must be robust enough to work with assistive technologies

How to Read Scan Results

Compliance Score

Your compliance score represents the percentage of WCAG criteria your website meets. ScanAbility analyzes your site against all applicable WCAG 2.1 AA criteria and provides:

• Overall compliance percentage (0-100%)
• Number of pages scanned
• Total issues found by severity
• Trend data (improvement over time)

Issue Severity Levels

Each issue is categorized by severity to help you prioritize fixes:

CRITICAL Issues that completely prevent users with disabilities from accessing content. These must be fixed immediately.

HIGH Significant issues that substantially impair the user experience for people with disabilities. Should be addressed within 1-2 weeks.

MEDIUM Moderate accessibility problems that affect some users. Should be addressed within 1 month.

LOW Minor issues that have minimal impact on user experience. Can be addressed as part of routine maintenance.

Issue Details

For each issue, ScanAbility provides:

• WCAG Criterion: The specific WCAG 2.1 guideline violated (e.g., 1.1.1 Non-text Content)
• Description: Clear explanation of what's wrong
• Affected Element: The specific HTML element causing the issue, with line numbers
• Current Value: What the element currently contains
• How to Fix: Step-by-step remediation instructions
• Resources: Links to WCAG documentation and examples

Filtering and Sorting

Use the results interface to:

• Filter by severity level
• Filter by WCAG criterion
• Filter by page or section
• Sort by severity, frequency, or remediation time
• Search for specific keywords

Remediation Guide

Once you've identified accessibility issues, use this guide to understand and fix the most common problems.

Images Without Text Alternatives (1.1.1)

Issue: Images lack alt text or have empty alt attributes, making them inaccessible to screen reader users.

How to Fix:

<!-- Before: Bad -->
<img src="team.jpg">

<!-- After: Good -->
<img src="team.jpg" alt="Marketing team members at annual meeting 2024">

Insufficient Color Contrast (1.4.3)

Issue: Text color doesn't have enough contrast against the background, making it hard to read for people with low vision.

How to Fix:

<!-- Before: Bad (gray text on light background) -->
<p style="color: #999; background: #f5f5f5;">Important information</p>

<!-- After: Good (dark text on light background) -->
<p style="color: #333; background: #f5f5f5;">Important information</p>

Missing Form Labels (1.3.1)

Issue: Form inputs lack associated labels, making them confusing for screen reader users.

How to Fix:

<!-- Before: Bad -->
<input type="text" placeholder="Email address">

<!-- After: Good -->
<label for="email">Email Address:</label>
<input type="text" id="email" name="email">

Empty Links (2.4.4)

Issue: Links have no text content or accessible label, making them impossible for assistive technology users to understand.

How to Fix:

<!-- Before: Bad -->
<a href="/page"><i class="icon-arrow"></i></a>

<!-- After: Good -->
<a href="/page" aria-label="View details">
  <i class="icon-arrow" aria-hidden="true"></i>
  <span class="sr-only">View details</span>
</a>

Missing Heading Hierarchy (2.4.6)

Issue: Headings skip levels (e.g., H1 to H3) or don't represent document structure logically.

How to Fix:

<!-- Before: Bad (missing H2) -->
<h1>Page Title</h1>
<h3>Section</h3>

<!-- After: Good -->
<h1>Page Title</h1>
<h2>Section</h2>
<h3>Subsection</h3>

Video Without Captions (1.2.1)

Issue: Embedded videos lack captions, making them inaccessible to deaf or hard of hearing users.

How to Fix: Provide captions in the video player or add a <track> element:

<video controls>
  <source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  <track kind="captions" src="captions.vtt" srclang="en" label="English">
</video>

API Documentation

ScanAbility provides a REST API for integrating accessibility scanning into your development workflow.

Authentication

All API requests require authentication using an API key. Include your API key in the request header:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Endpoints

POST /api/v1/scans

Trigger a new accessibility scan.

GET /api/v1/scans/:scan_id

Retrieve scan results by ID.

GET /api/v1/domains/:domain_id/reports

Get all reports for a domain.

Response Format

{
  "scan_id": "scan_123456",
  "domain": "example.com",
  "standard": "AA",
  "status": "completed",
  "compliance_score": 85,
  "total_issues": 24,
  "critical": 2,
  "high": 5,
  "medium": 12,
  "low": 5,
  "created_at": "2026-04-03T10:30:00Z",
  "completed_at": "2026-04-03T10:45:00Z"
}

Frequently Asked Questions

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