Visit Ballarat Accessibility Audit
Comprehensive Manual Audit as well as Automated audit of the 'Visit Ballarat - Brilliantly unexpected' website.
This Visit Ballarat accessibility audit and WCAG 2.1 AA remediation covered the official tourism website for Ballarat, a historic regional city in Victoria, Australia — a React-based site full of attractions, events, accommodation and trip-planning tools.
A destination site helps visitors discover things to do, find places to stay and plan a trip — through listings, maps, search and booking links. Travellers with disability use these too, so the accessibility of that content and those interactive tools decides whether the region is welcoming online as well as in person.
Table of Contents
Why accessibility matters for a tourism website
In Australia, government and public bodies have clear obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act, and WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the standard used to judge an accessible website. For Visit Ballarat the duty is practical as well as legal: residents and visitors who use assistive technology must be able to read information and complete tasks just like anyone else.
Scope and standard
Our Visit Ballarat accessibility audit assessed the site against WCAG 2.1 Level AA, across the journeys that matter for a destination: attraction and event listings, accommodation and operator pages, maps and itineraries, search and filtering, and any booking or enquiry links — with attention to the dynamic, JavaScript-driven nature of a React build.
How we ran the Visit Ballarat accessibility audit
- Screen-reader testing with JAWS and NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, and TalkBack on Android
- Automated audits with Deque axe, Google Lighthouse and WAVE
- Keyboard-only operation of every step, with attention to focus order and a clearly visible focus indicator
- Colour-contrast analysis, plus 400% zoom and reflow testing for low-vision users
What accessibility means on each part of the site
Because Visit Ballarat is a public-sector site that informs and serves residents, our Visit Ballarat accessibility audit focused on the parts people depend on:
- Information and programme pages need a clear heading structure and readable text, so a screen-reader user can find services without relying on visual layout.
- Forms and applications need programmatic labels, clear instructions and announced errors, so applying for a service or permit never depends on sight or a mouse.
- Documents and PDFs need to be tagged and readable, since so much public information is delivered as downloads.
- Search, navigation and any maps need operable controls and results in text, not by map alone.
- All content needs sufficient colour contrast, visible focus and clean reflow at 400% zoom for low-vision residents.
Outcome
This Visit Ballarat accessibility audit, combining manual and automated testing with remediation, brought the site into line with WCAG 2.1 AA expectations, so people using a screen reader or a keyboard can use it without barriers. Every fix was verified with assistive technology rather than assumed from an automated pass, so the result holds up in real use.