EPUB Accessibility Audit Services: What Publishers Should Test Before Release

What Is an EPUB Accessibility Audit?

An EPUB can open correctly, display beautifully, and pass basic technical checks while still creating barriers for readers who use assistive technologies.

That is why accessibility testing should not be treated as a final checkbox before publication.

An EPUB accessibility audit is a structured review of an ebook to identify accessibility barriers in its content, structure, navigation, and functionality.

For publishers, professional EPUB accessibility audit services can help answer important questions:

• Is the EPUB structured semantically?
• Can readers navigate the book efficiently?
• Are images handled appropriately?
• Are tables understandable?
• Do links and notes work correctly?
• Can functionality be operated with a keyboard where applicable?
• How does the ebook behave with assistive technologies?
• Which accessibility issues need remediation before release?

A useful audit should not simply return:

PASS / FAIL

It should provide an actionable path:

IDENTIFY → CLASSIFY → REMEDIATE → RETEST

The objective is not merely to find accessibility issues. It is to provide publishers and production teams with enough information to correct those issues efficiently.

Why Publishers Need EPUB Accessibility Audits

Accessibility can be affected at several stages of ebook production.

Problems may originate in:

• source documents;
• conversion workflows;
• HTML structure;
• CSS;
• image descriptions;
• navigation;
• table markup;
• metadata;
• interactive components.

Some problems are easy to detect automatically.

Others require human judgment.

For example, an automated checker may confirm that an image contains an alternative-text attribute.

But consider this alternative text:

“image123.jpg”

Technically, text exists.

Practically, it tells the reader almost nothing about the image.

This demonstrates an important difference:

Technical presence does not automatically mean accessible quality.

A strong EPUB accessibility audit therefore combines appropriate technical checks with manual accessibility review.

What Should an EPUB Accessibility Audit Test?

The exact audit scope depends on the publication, its content, and the accessibility requirements agreed for the project.

However, publishers should expect several important areas to be reviewed.

1. Semantic Structure

Semantic structure tells assistive technologies what different parts of an ebook represent.

An audit should examine elements such as:

• headings;
• paragraphs;
• lists;
• quotations;
• figures;
• captions;
• notes;
• tables.

A common accessibility problem occurs when visual formatting is used instead of meaningful structure.

For example, a chapter heading may appear large and bold visually while being encoded as an ordinary paragraph.

Sighted readers may recognize it immediately as a heading.

Assistive technology may not.

The accessibility audit should therefore evaluate whether the EPUB communicates structural meaning—not merely visual appearance.

2. Heading Hierarchy

Headings provide an important navigation mechanism for readers using assistive technologies.

A good heading structure allows readers to understand the organization of a book and move between sections efficiently.

An EPUB accessibility audit should check whether:

• chapter titles are correctly identified;
• section headings use appropriate hierarchy;
• headings represent genuine sections;
• heading levels are logically organized;
• styling is not being used as a substitute for semantic headings.

A publication can look perfectly organized visually while providing a confusing heading structure underneath.

3. EPUB Navigation

Navigation is one of the most important parts of an accessible ebook.

Readers should be able to locate chapters and major sections without manually moving through every page or screen.

An audit should review relevant navigation mechanisms, including:

• table of contents;
• chapter navigation;
• internal links;
• landmarks where applicable;
• page navigation where required.

The navigation should also match the actual content of the publication.

For example, if an important appendix exists in the ebook but is missing from the navigation, some readers may have difficulty locating it.

4. Logical Reading Sequence

Visual layout does not always reflect the sequence in which content is encoded.

This becomes particularly important with:

• sidebars;
• figures;
• captions;
• notes;
• boxes;
• complex layouts.

A sighted reader can often infer the intended order from the page design.

A screen-reader user may depend much more heavily on the underlying content sequence.

An accessibility audit should therefore check whether content is encountered in a logical and understandable order.

5. Images and Alternative Text

Images require different accessibility treatments depending on their purpose.

An image may be:

• informative;
• decorative;
• functional;
• complex.

An EPUB accessibility audit should determine whether the chosen treatment is appropriate.

For an informative image, the alternative text should communicate the information necessary to understand its purpose in context.

Simply writing:

“Image”

or

“Picture of diagram”

usually provides very little useful information.

Decorative images, meanwhile, should not unnecessarily interrupt the reading experience.

Complex content such as:

• charts;
• graphs;
• diagrams;
• maps;
• scientific illustrations;

may require more detailed consideration than a simple photograph.

The audit should therefore assess the quality and purpose of alternative text, not merely whether an alt-text field exists.

6. Tables

Tables can become difficult to understand when their visual relationships are not represented structurally.

A sighted reader may visually associate a data cell with its row and column headings.

Readers using assistive technology need those relationships to be represented meaningfully.

An EPUB accessibility audit should examine:

• table structure;
• header identification;
• row and column relationships;
• complex table organization;
• logical reading experience.

The audit should also identify cases where content has been visually arranged like a table without being represented as meaningful tabular data.

7. Lists

Lists should be structurally represented as lists rather than created using manual characters and line breaks.

For example:

• Item one
• Item two
• Item three

may visually resemble a list.

But semantic list markup provides additional structural information.

The audit should therefore verify that ordered and unordered lists are encoded appropriately.

8. Links

Links should work correctly and provide enough context for readers to understand their purpose.

Generic link text such as:

Click here

can be difficult to interpret when encountered outside the surrounding paragraph.

More descriptive wording helps users understand where the link leads.

An accessibility audit should examine:

• link text;
• link destinations;
• internal links;
• external links where included;
• broken links;
• navigation links.

Functional testing is important because correctly structured link markup is not useful if the destination itself is wrong.

9. Footnotes and Endnotes

Academic, scholarly, and professional publications frequently contain notes.

Poor note navigation can make an ebook frustrating to use.

Ideally, readers should be able to move through the relationship:

BODY TEXT → NOTE → RETURN TO BODY TEXT

without losing their original reading position.

An audit should therefore review:

• note references;
• note destinations;
• backlinks where applicable;
• navigation consistency.

This is particularly important for books containing large numbers of footnotes or endnotes.

10. Language Information

Language identification can affect how assistive technologies interpret and pronounce content.

The EPUB should correctly identify its primary language.

Where meaningful language changes occur within the publication, appropriate markup may also be required.

For example, an English-language book containing a substantial French quotation may need the language change identified so supporting assistive technologies can interpret it appropriately.

Accessibility Metadata Should Match the Actual EPUB

Accessibility metadata can communicate information about an ebook's accessibility characteristics.

Depending on the publication and applicable workflow, this may include information relating to:

• access modes;
• accessibility features;
• accessibility hazards;
• accessibility summaries.

However, metadata should accurately describe the publication.

Publishers should not declare an accessibility feature merely because it is expected to be present.

The feature should actually exist and function appropriately in the delivered EPUB.

An accessibility audit can therefore include checking whether declared accessibility information is consistent with the actual file.

Why Automated Accessibility Testing Is Not Enough

Automated testing is extremely useful.

It can quickly identify many repeatable technical issues across an EPUB.

However, automation cannot reliably evaluate every accessibility question.

Consider alternative text.

An automated system may ask:

Does this image have alt text?

Human review asks:

Does this alt text communicate the information a reader needs?

The same distinction applies elsewhere.

Automation may detect that headings exist.

A human reviewer can determine whether those headings create a logical hierarchy.

Automation may confirm that links exist.

A human reviewer can evaluate whether their wording is understandable.

Therefore, a mature workflow combines:

AUTOMATED CHECKS + MANUAL REVIEW + HUMAN USABILITY TESTING

rather than depending exclusively on one method.

Why Human Accessibility QA Matters

Accessibility ultimately affects people, not validators.

Human testing can identify barriers that are difficult to understand through automated reports alone.

For example:

A table might technically contain header markup but still be extremely difficult to interpret when navigating through the data.

A navigation structure might technically exist but require too many unnecessary interactions.

Alternative text might pass a technical check while failing to communicate the important meaning of an illustration.

Gentize Innovations has 50+ A11Y-certified testers with visual impairments who can contribute human-led accessibility QA and assistive-technology validation where appropriate to the project.

This human perspective helps move accessibility testing beyond simple technical conformance.

Screen-Reader Testing for EPUBs

Screen-reader testing should evaluate more than whether the ebook's text can be spoken aloud.

A meaningful review can examine how effectively a reader can use the publication.

Areas can include:

• navigating headings;
• locating chapters;
• understanding links;
• accessing image descriptions;
• interpreting tables;
• following footnotes;
• understanding reading sequence;
• moving through the publication efficiently.

The central question is:

Can the reader understand and navigate the book effectively using the intended assistive technology?

This is different from simply confirming that a screen reader can open the EPUB.

Keyboard Accessibility Testing

Some users navigate digital content without using a mouse or touchscreen.

Where an EPUB contains functionality that requires interaction, keyboard accessibility should therefore be considered.

Testing may identify:

• controls that cannot be reached;
• illogical focus order;
• unexpected focus movement;
• keyboard traps;
• inaccessible interactive elements.

A user should not become trapped inside a component or be forced to use a pointing device for functionality expected to support keyboard operation.

Accessibility Audit Findings Should Be Prioritized

A publisher may receive dozens—or hundreds—of accessibility findings from a complex title.

Treating every finding identically can make remediation inefficient.

A useful audit report should therefore help the production team understand priority.

A project might classify issues as:

Critical

An issue that prevents access to important content or essential functionality.

Major

A substantial barrier that significantly affects accessibility or navigation.

Moderate

An issue that creates difficulty but does not completely block access.

Minor

A smaller problem that should still be corrected as part of quality improvement.

The exact terminology can vary between projects.

What matters is that production teams can answer:

What should we fix first?

Audit, Remediation, and Retesting Are Different

These three activities should not be confused.

Audit

Find and document accessibility barriers.

Remediation

Correct the identified problems.

Retesting

Verify that the corrections work and have not introduced new accessibility problems.

The workflow should therefore be:

AUDIT

↓

REMEDIATE

↓

RETEST

↓

APPROVE

An audit report alone does not make an EPUB accessible.

Accessibility improves when identified barriers are correctly remediated and the resulting file is verified.

What Should Publishers Receive From an EPUB Accessibility Audit?

The exact deliverables should be agreed before the project begins.

A useful audit report may contain:

• title or file identifier;
• issue category;
• issue description;
• issue location;
• severity;
• accessibility impact;
• remediation guidance;
• testing method;
• retest status.

For example:

Issue: Missing meaningful alternative text
Location: Chapter 4, Figure 4.2
Impact: Important information in the figure is unavailable through the provided text alternative
Action: Create a description that communicates the figure's relevant information
Status: Remediation required

Structured reporting makes findings easier for production teams to act upon.

Single-Title Audits vs Large EPUB Catalogues

Testing one EPUB and testing hundreds or thousands of EPUBs require different planning.

For a single title, reviewers can examine the publication individually.

For a large catalogue, publishers should also investigate patterns.

Examples include:

• titles created from the same template;
• books produced by the same workflow;
• repeated heading problems;
• recurring navigation issues;
• missing accessibility metadata;
• repeated alt-text problems;
• common table structures.

This creates an opportunity to identify systemic accessibility problems.

If the same production error exists across a template family, fixing the underlying workflow can be more efficient than treating every title as an unrelated problem.

Start Large Accessibility Projects With Representative Samples

Before auditing an entire backlist, select representative EPUBs.

The sample might include:

• a simple text-heavy title;
• an image-heavy title;
• a title containing tables;
• a title containing footnotes;
• a complex academic title;
• an older EPUB;
• a recently produced EPUB.

Then assess:

STRUCTURE

↓

NAVIGATION

↓

IMAGES

↓

TABLES

↓

ASSISTIVE-TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCE

↓

RECURRING ISSUES

The findings can help publishers define remediation rules and estimate the complexity of the wider programme.

What Should Publishers Ask an EPUB Accessibility Audit Provider?

Before outsourcing an audit, ask:

• What exactly is included in the accessibility review?
• Which automated checks are performed?
• What manual testing is included?
• Is assistive-technology testing available?
• Are image descriptions reviewed for quality?
• Are tables manually evaluated?
• Is keyboard accessibility reviewed where relevant?
• How are issues prioritized?
• What does the final report contain?
• Can the provider also remediate identified problems?
• Is retesting included?
• Can the workflow scale across a large catalogue?

Publishers should be cautious about providers that promise accessibility based only on automated validation.

The testing process should be explainable.

How Gentize Innovations Supports EPUB Accessibility Audits

Gentize Innovations supports accessibility workflows including:

• Accessible EPUB production;
• EPUB accessibility remediation;
• accessibility validation;
• alt-text workflows;
• screen-reader testing;
• keyboard testing;
• human accessibility QA.

Gentize also has 50+ A11Y-certified testers with visual impairments, supporting human-led accessibility testing and assistive-technology validation where relevant to the project.

A practical Gentize workflow can follow:

EPUB INPUT

↓

AUTOMATED ACCESSIBILITY CHECKS

↓

MANUAL ACCESSIBILITY REVIEW

↓

HUMAN / ASSISTIVE-TECHNOLOGY QA

↓

ISSUE REPORT

↓

REMEDIATION

↓

RETESTING

↓

FINAL DELIVERY

This creates a clear path from identifying accessibility barriers to verifying the corrected EPUB.

Why Accessibility Should Be Tested Before Release

Accessibility problems are easier to manage when testing is integrated into production rather than postponed until after publication.

Pre-release testing gives publishers an opportunity to identify:

• recurring template problems;
• structural errors;
• missing descriptions;
• navigation issues;
• table barriers;
• metadata inconsistencies;

before the final EPUB reaches readers.

It also creates feedback that can improve future production.

Instead of:

PRODUCE → RELEASE → DISCOVER PROBLEMS → REWORK

publishers can move toward:

PRODUCE → AUDIT → REMEDIATE → RETEST → RELEASE

Accessibility QA then becomes part of publishing quality rather than emergency correction.

Need an Accessibility Review Before Your EPUB Goes Live?

Send Gentize Innovations a representative EPUB together with your accessibility requirements, publication type, approximate title volume, and expected delivery requirements.

Gentize can review the file, identify accessibility barriers, and help define an appropriate:

AUDIT → REMEDIATION → HUMAN QA → RETEST

workflow for individual titles or larger publishing programmes.

Talk to Gentize Innovations about EPUB accessibility audit and remediation support.