Documentation

Getting Started

A quick guide to auditing your council's web forms for accessibility and usability issues.

What you'll learn

Run your first audit

By URL or HTML upload

Handle common scenarios

Firewalls, iframes, multi-step forms

Understand your results

Scores, severity, and confidence

Take action

Quick wins and bigger improvements

What This Tool Does

auditmyform.com checks your web forms against accessibility and usability best practices. It analyses the HTML structure of your form and identifies issues that could create barriers for residents trying to complete applications, requests, or registrations.

What We Check

  • Accessibility foundations – Labels, keyboard navigation, screen reader support
  • Clarity and trust – Form purpose, required fields, privacy notices
  • Input support – Input types, autocomplete, reducing friction
  • Error handling – Validation, error messages, recovery paths

What We Don't Check

  • Visual design (colours, fonts, spacing)
  • Content quality or reading level
  • Backend behaviour (server responses)
  • Dynamic form behaviour (conditional logic)

Running Your First Audit

Option 1: Audit by URL

The quickest way to audit a publicly accessible form.

  1. 1Go to the Audit page
  2. 2Paste the public URL of your form
  3. 3Click Run audit and wait 10–30 seconds

Option 2: Audit by HTML Upload

Use this when your form is behind a login, embedded in an iframe, or your firewall blocks our request.

  1. 1Open the form page in your browser
  2. 2
    Save the page HTML using one of these methods:
    • Ctrl+S / Cmd+S → Save as "Webpage, HTML Only" (best for JS-rendered forms)
    • • Right-click → Save As → HTML file
    • • Right-click → View Page Source → Save (static pages only)
  3. 3Click Audit by HTML upload and upload your file

JavaScript-rendered forms

Many modern forms are built with JavaScript (React, Vue, etc.). "View Page Source" shows the raw HTML before JS runs, which may be empty. Use Ctrl+S / Cmd+S or Save As instead – these capture the rendered page content.

Multi-step forms

For forms with multiple pages, save each step as a separate HTML file and upload them all at once. The audit will process them in order and combine the results.

Common Scenarios

"I got a 403 Forbidden error"

Some council websites block requests from cloud services as a security measure.

Solution: Use the HTML upload option instead.

"My form is embedded from OpenForms"

Many councils embed OpenForms in an iframe. The council site may block our request, but OpenForms won't.

Solution: Right-click the form → "Open frame in new tab" → Use that URL (starts with au.openforms.com)

"I need to audit a form behind a login"

For authenticated pages (staff portals, member areas), we can't access the page directly.

Solution: Log in, navigate to the form, save the page source, and upload it.

Understanding Your Results

Resident Experience Score

Your form receives a score out of 100 based on how well it supports residents.

40
Accessibility
25
Clarity
20
Input support
15
Error handling

Issue Severity

  • High – Likely blocks some users
  • Medium – Creates friction
  • Low – Minor improvements

Confidence Levels

Some checks are definitive (automated), while others use pattern matching (heuristic). Heuristic checks may occasionally flag false positives.

What to Do With Your Results

Quick Wins

  • • Add missing labels to fields
  • • Use type="email" for email fields
  • • Add autocomplete attributes
  • • Mark required fields clearly

Bigger Improvements

  • • Add a privacy notice
  • • Explain form purpose upfront
  • • List what residents need
  • • Use fieldset/legend for grouped questions

Sharing results

Use the "Copy all fixes" button to create a plain text list you can paste into a ticket, email, or Jira issue for your development team.

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