Robust
Last modified on Fri 17 Mar 2023

Robust

Guideline 4.1 Compatible

Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

What should the tester do?

To make certain that the application is robust, it needs to be accessible on different “user agents” – devices. That means we need to test it on Android and iOS, on different devices, and ensure it works consistently well on all of them.

This should be the case if developers use native components for their respective platforms and avoid adding custom ones.

Also, one important part of the app’s Robustness is the status messages. You need to make sure that they are communicated to the user but in a way that doesn’t remove focus from the element they are currently located on. E.g. if a toast message shows up – the user using a screen reader should be notified about it, and it should be read to them, but the focus on the screen should stay in the same place where it was before.

How?

Testing the app with screen reader/switch access on different platforms and devices, testing it in situations where status messages appear. Some examples of status messages can be found here.

What to report?