accessFlow calculates accessibility scores based on the results of the latest audit. Scores account for the severity of accessibility issues and how many issues appear relative to the size of the page. These scores help you compare pages, prioritize fixes, and track accessibility improvements across your website.
How page scoring works
accessFlow uses a density-based model to calculate each page score.
It considers:
- The issues found on the page
- The severity of each issue
- Extreme and high issues have the greatest impact
- Medium and low issues have a smaller impact
- The number of issues relative to the number of elements on the page
Each page receives a score from 15-100.
A page with significant accessibility barriers will have a lower score, even when the rest of the page has few accessibility issues.
A score of 15 represents a page that is fundamentally inaccessible due to a high concentration of accessibility issues.
Issue severity levels
Each issue type is categorized by severity:
- Extreme
- High
- Medium
- Low
The severity reflect the issue’s impact on accessibility. Higher-severity issues have a greater effect on the final score.
How the site score is calculated
The site score ranges from 15-100 and is based on the current page scores across your website.
Pages without a score, such pages that failed to scan or haven’t been scored yet, aren’t included in the calculation.
First, accessFlow calculates the average score of all scored pages.
It then adjusts the average page score based on the percentage of pages that score below 70, since these pages can prevent users from accessing other parts of your site that score well. To calculate the adjusted average, the average page score is multiplied by one minus the percentage of pages below 70.
Adjusted average page score = average page score × (1 − % pages below 70)
Next, accessFlow calculates the page score floor. The minimum floor is 15, so that one very low-scoring page doesn’t pull your site score too far down. If the lowest page score is higher than 15, accessFlow uses that score instead.
Page score floor = max (15, lowest page score)
Finally, the site score is the higher of the adjusted average page score and the page score floor.
Site accessibility score = max (adjusted average, page score floor)
This calculation reflects accessibility across your website, while giving greater weight to pages that may create significant barriers.
FAQs
Why can a page with only one issue score below 70?
Severity matters as well as the number of issues. A single extreme or high-severity issue can create a significant accessibility barrier, so the score is intentionally capped at 70 even if the rest of the page has few accessibility issues.
Why can two pages with the same issues have different scores?
Because the score also considers issue density. For example, five issues on a page with fewer elements affect a larger share of the user experience than five issues on a page with many accessible elements.
Why are failed pages excluded from the site score?
The site score is based on page scores. If a page fails to scan, accessFlow doesn’t have a reo reliable page score to use in the site score calculation.
What does 100 mean before any scored pages exist?
It means there are no scored pages available to calculate the site score yet. The 100 is a starting value. It doesn't mean that the website has been evaluated as fully accessible.