I know I’ve been recently putting a lot of heat on accessibility, both on mobile devices and mobile services. One of the reasons for this is that I’m a firm believer, that accessibility and GUI testing will be the next BIG thing in mobile web services arena as efficienty / ROI becomes more important. The rise of accessibility testing as a major business has happened on PC based services, and I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t happen also in mobile world.

So what would mobile services accessibility & GUI testing be alike, and what it should target for?

High end geeks definitely love to read recommendations and control issues in minor details. For them one starting point could be W3’s Mobile Web Iniatitive (W3C-MWI), especially the so called Mobile Web Best Practises document, which defines several interface and usability related issues in fine detail. This is a must read for anyone seriously considering to access mobile services accessibility / user testing arena.

However, since most developers don’t usually find time or the interest to study docs carefully, a tool to take care of the most common rough edges would be fine. And luckily, there are already several pieces of software capable of taking things into consideration.

• Microsoft Visual Studio
  Microsoft’s solution is probably the best commercial all-in-one solution to do any kind of software development, including various types of portable devices. There are lots of in-build features, but even more noteworthy is the number of high quality add-ins to push limits even further. Another benefit is the quality and quantity of documentation that comes in form of books, online services, references etc
• Generic GUI testing tools
  Whether you works on Symbian, .NET, MFC etc. platform / tool, there will always a huge selection of minor, external 3rd party tools for GUI and accessibility testing. Some may be open source / free, but usually this is an area where commercial applications provide the best and long lasting solution. My advice is not to count for pennies on this issue, but buy the best tools available as they make working more efficient and produce better quality services.

And the final way is of course human based software testing. Let the real users test your application, and listen what they really have to say. If you don’t know how do organize this, there are several companies that provide laboratory testing services tailored to your needs. All you need to do is locate the near one you and visit their site / give them a call.