---
title: What automated testing can't do
description: Why a Lumtera score of 100 means "no automated issues found", not "compliant", and the five-minute manual check that catches much of the rest.
---

# What automated testing can't do

Lumtera finds the accessibility problems a machine can reliably detect in your content. That is only part of WCAG. Independent studies put automated testing at between **a third and a half** of real barriers. The rest need a person: is this alt text accurate? Does the page make sense when read aloud? Can you use the menu with a keyboard?

That's why:

- A score of **100** means "no automated issues found". It never means "compliant".
- Checks a machine can't decide on its own are marked **Needs review**, not **Error**. A person confirms or dismisses them.
- Lumtera never claims to make a site ADA, WCAG, EAA or Section 508 compliant, and you should be wary of any tool that does.

## Why not an overlay?

Overlays are widgets that try to "fix" a site in the visitor's browser. They don't make a site compliant, and they can get in the way of the assistive technology people already use. In 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission ordered an overlay vendor to pay $1 million over claims that its tool made websites compliant.

Lumtera takes the opposite approach. It adds nothing to your site for visitors. It helps you fix the content itself, which is what WCAG, the ADA, the European Accessibility Act and Section 508 actually ask for. The optional [site fixes](/site-fixes) are the one exception: they change the HTML your server sends, in the same way for every visitor. There's still no widget.

## The five-minute manual check

The **Overview** screen includes this checklist, under **What a score cannot tell you**. Run it on your key pages: the home page, a typical post, your contact form and your checkout.

<ol class="step-list">
  <li><strong>Keyboard only.</strong> Put the mouse away and press <kbd>Tab</kbd> through the page. Can you see where focus is, and reach and use every link, menu and form?</li>
  <li><strong>Zoom to 200%.</strong> Does text stay readable without scrolling sideways, and does nothing overlap?</li>
  <li><strong>Listen.</strong> Turn on VoiceOver (<kbd>Cmd</kbd>+<kbd>F5</kbd> on a Mac) or the free NVDA on Windows and read the page. Does it make sense in order?</li>
  <li><strong>Theme colors.</strong> Lumtera's content checks look at colors set in your content. Check your theme's menus, buttons and footer too.</li>
</ol>

The W3C's [Easy Checks](https://www.w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/preliminary/) guide goes further.

## Guided manual checks

For a more thorough pass, use the **Manual accessibility checks** panel in the block editor. It walks you through nine short checks, step by step: keyboard, zoom and reflow, text spacing, a screen reader skim, forms, video and audio, motion and time limits, pop-ups on hover or focus, and screen orientation. You record **Pass**, **Fail** or **Not applicable** on each page, with an optional note, so your team can see what has been tested. See [Guided manual checks](/manual-checks).

## Getting closer with Lumtera

Some of the manual work can be narrowed down:

- The **Whole page** tab in [review mode](/review-mode#whole-page) checks the rendered page, theme included: real color contrast, landmarks, the skip link, focus hidden behind sticky headers, blocked zoom and sideways scrolling.
- [Page checks](/pro/page-checks) in Lumtera Pro run those whole-page checks on a schedule, as a logged-out visitor.
- [Guided manual checks](/manual-checks) record the results of your own testing on each page.
- [Client reports](/pro/reports) in Lumtera Pro list all 55 WCAG 2.2 A and AA criteria and mark the ones no automated check covers as **Manual check needed**, so the client can see what is left to test.
- The [Accessibility Conformance Report](/pro/acr) in Lumtera Pro uses your automated results and your guided manual check results on published pages to suggest a conformance level for each criterion, which you review before exporting.

For a formal conformance claim, get a manual audit by an accessibility specialist, ideally including testing by disabled people.