AXE Passes, But It's Still Unusable: The Accessibility Bugs Automated Tools Can't Catch

Short summary

Automated accessibility testing (AXE) catches ~33% of WCAG issues but misses critical usability failures like broken focus management, keyboard operability, and aria-live timing. Real accessibility requires manual testing with screen readers and keyboard navigation alongside automated checks. Five concrete examples show why HTML correctness ≠ interface usability.

• •AXE passes but doesn't guarantee usable interfaces—it checks well-formed HTML, not whether components actually work
• •Automated tools miss timing issues, focus management, keyboard handlers, and semantic meaning that only appear at runtime
• •Manual testing (keyboard Tab-through + screen reader) is mandatory to catch the other ~67% of WCAG failures

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.